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To the Editor.Ìý —In an editorial entitled "The Rationale for Treatment of Lymphocytic Thyroiditis With Spontaneously Resolving Hyperthyroidism: Prednisone Therapy v Chicken Soup," published in the December 1982 Archives (142:2261-2262), Dorfman et al commented that "all cases of spontaneously resolving hyperthyroidism (SRH) can be diagnosed without a thyroid biopsy." They went on to state that the combination of hyperthyroidism with a decreased radioactive iodine uptake under special circumstances was clinically diagnostic of SRH and that the thyroid biopsy was unnecessary. That such a complex organ such as the thyroid can be reduced to such well-intentioned, but simplistic, thinking is debatable. Nevertheless, under such circumstances, why resist the thyroid biopsy?Fine needle-aspiration cytology has proved incredibly simple, uncomplicated, and cost-effective. Using a 25-gauge needle, we perform this procedure on an outpatient basis, usually requiring only 15 to 20 minutes. Lymphocytic thyroiditis or thyroid tumors and neoplasms can be interpreted and classified