Veracyte, Inc. announced that data demonstrating the ability of the Afirma Gene Expression Classifier (GEC) to reduce thyroid surgeries during three years of follow-up were published online in Endocrine Practice, the journal of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). The study provides the longest-term follow-up information published to date for the genomic test, which is used to identify patients whose thyroid nodules are benign following inconclusive fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy results, so that they can potentially avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery and be monitored with ultrasound imaging instead. Researchers assessed surgery rates for patients with benign Afirma GEC results who were tested at 16 community-based practices across the United States and were followed for 36 months.

They found that 82.7% of patients (81 out of 98) with a benign Afirma GEC result avoided surgery during the follow-up period, with the majority (88%) of any surgeries occurring within the first two years. In comparison, the historical rate of surgery avoidance is just 26% among thyroid nodule patients with indeterminate cytopathology results.