Diagnostic Performance of Quantitative Shear Wave Ultrasound Elastography for Thyroid Cancer / 대한갑상선학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Thyroid ultrasonography (US) is a useful diagnostic tool for the evaluation of thyroid cancer. And US elastography is a newly developed dynamic technique that can provide an estimation of thyroid nodule stiffness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of conventional US and shear wave elastography in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty one patients who underwent both conventional US and shear wave elastography were included in this study. Patients were classified into benign and malignant groups according to the cytopathologic results. We evaluated and compared the diagnostic performances of conventional US, shear wave elastography, and combination of conventional US with shear wave elastography. RESULTS: Of 81 nodules, 58 were benign and 23 were malignant. All diagnostic performances of conventional US were higher than those of shear wave elastography. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az) of conventional US was superior (Az=0.792) to that of shear wave elastography (Az=0.609) (p=0.049) and that of combination of conventional US with shear wave elastography (Az=0.72) (p=0.118). CONCLUSION: Conventional US was good diagnostic modality for diagnosing thyroid cancer. Shear wave elastography itself or a combination of conventional US with shear wave elastography was not as useful as the use of conventional US alone for predicting thyroid malignancy.