ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic values of ultrasound elastography (UE) technology and acoustic radia?tion force impulse (ARFI) technology in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant single solid thyroid nodule showed by ultrasonography. Methods A total of 100 patients with solitary thyroid nodule diagnosed by the Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine of Shihezi University in December 2013 to July 2014 were selected in this study. The routine ultrasound, UE examination and ARFI technology were used in patients before operation. All patients were performed operation for thy?roid nodules and the diagnosis was confirmed by the pathologic results. A flexible classification method was used in UE. ARFI was used to detect shear wave velocity (SWV) of lesions. The diagnostic values of three methods were evaluated by the gold standard of pathologic results. ROC curves were plotted according to SWV values of benign and malignant thyroid nod?ules. Results The area under the curve (ACU) was 0.960. The best cut-off value of SWV was 2.76 for diagnosis. The diag?nostic sensitivities of malignant thyroid solid nodules were 82.61%(19/23), 82.61%(19/23) and 91.30%(21/23) for US, UE and ARFI, respectively. The diagnostic specificities were 87.01%(67/77), 88.31%(68/77) and 93.51%(72/77) respectively. And the positive predictive values (PPV) were 65.52%(19/29), 67.86%(19/28) and 80.77%(21/27) respectively;the nega?tive predictive values (NPV) were 94.37%(67/71),94.44%(68/72) and 97.29%(71/73). Conclusion ARFI technology is superior to US and UE technology in predicting malignancy in solitary solid thyroid nodule, which is worth of clinical applica?tion and promotion.