Gene expression test clarifies thyroid biopsies

Each year, tens of thousands of patients with thyroid nodules have surgery to remove all or part of their thyroids due to results that are indeterminate yet raise suspicions of thyroid cancer. Ultimately, most of these nodules prove benign. Increasingly, indeterminate nodules in the United States are being evaluated with a new molecular diagnostic test that measures the expression levels of 142 genes. This test is able to identify which initially indeterminate nodules are highly likely to be benign, and thus allow patients to avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery...