ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in diagnosing thyroid carcinoma.METHODS The clinical data of 129 patients with thyroid nodules,who were examined by CEUS and were operated in Xinhua Hospital between Jan 2014 and Aug 2015,were analyzed in order to compare the diagnostic results of CEUS to the postoperative pathologic findings,and to summarize its imaging features.RESULTS A total of 132 thyroid nodules in 129 patients were examined by CEUS.Among them,103 nodules were diagnosed as thyroid carcinoma,24 nodules were benign thyroid tumor and 5 nodules were thyroiditis.Compared with pathology results,the diagnostic accuracy,sensitivity and specificity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound is 88.6％,92.2％ and of 75.9％ respectively.The diagnosis of the CEUS in 31 cases was not consistent with the pathological results,in which 8 cases of thyroid carcinoma were misdiagnosed as benign tumor,3 cases of thyroiditis were misdiagnosed as thyroid carcinoma,and 20 cases of benign tumors were misdiagnosed as thyroid carcinoma.The malignant thyroid nodules mainly were papillary carcinoma,which was characterized by'low enhanced'and'slow in fast out'performance in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination.CONCLUSION The contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination in diagnosing thyroid carcinoma has much more specificity and sensitivity,the'low-enhanced'and'slow in fast out'signs of the CEUS were the important features of malignant thyroid nodules.