Ultrasonographic differentiation and Ultrasound-based management of partially cystic thyroid nodules

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine sonographic features of malignancy in partially cystic thyroid nodules and assess the diagnostic efficacy of these features for differentiating between benign and malignant lesions in the nodules with indeterminate cytology. Subjects and methods: From January 2016 to December 2017, a total of 91 patients with 94 partially cystic thyroid nodules who had undergone ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy and thyroid surgery in our hospital were included in this study. The sonographic features of the thyroid nodules were analyzed to identify the predictive features of malignancy and assess the diagnostic efficacy of these features. Results: The features of hypoechogenicity, microcalcification, composition, and an eccentric solid component with an acute angle had statistically significant associations with malignant nodule (p<005) by univariable analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that microcalcification and hypoechogenicity were significantly associated with malignancy. Using the combination of microcalcification, hypoechogenicity, and a solid component comprising of greater than or equal to 50% of the total volume, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy were 97.6%, 32.7%, 53.9%, and 94.4%, respectively. In these nodules with indeterminate cytology, this combination also exhibited a high sensitivity of 92.3% and an NPV of 83.3%. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that microcalcification and hypoechogenicity were independently associated with malignancy in partially cystic thyroid nodules. The combination of microcalcification, hypoechogenicity, and a solid portion that is greater than or equal to 50% of the total volume will help guide clinical decisions in mixed cystic solid nodules.

A multivariate risk prediction model of malignant partially cystic thyroid nodules / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective To develop a multivariate logistic regression model , and to predict the risk of ma-lignant partially cystic thyroid nodules .Methods 470 patients(662 nodules)treated with surgery and confirmed by pathological diagnosis were screened out .Their ultrasonographic morphology and vascularity of thyroid nod-ules, thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH)and clinical information were collected and analyzed retrospectively .The model was developed to calculate the individual risk and ROC curve was used to evaluate the predictive index . Results The regression model was:Z=-3.60+1.40X2+2.47X3+1.05X4+0.57X9+0.07X10+1.02X12 ( X2 represents eccentric acute-angle configuration , X3 represents microcalcification , X4 represents cystic-solid margin,X9 represents echogenecity of solid portion , X10 represents TSH,X12 represents gender );M=eZ/1+eZ (M represents probability of malignancy , e represents natural constant 2.72).When applied the model to the ver-ification group, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, misdiagnosis rate, missed diagnosis rate, negative likeli-hood ratio(LR-)and positive likelihood ratio(LR+)was 96.95%,100%, 96.68%, 3.32%, 0%, 0 and 30.12 respectively.The largest area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC)was 0.88,which proved the model has high diagnostic value .Conclusions The model has high accuracy to predict the risk of malignan-cy.M is closely related to malignant risk of partially cystic thyroid nodules .