The value of quantitative analysis in thyroid nodules by real-time tissue elasticity imaging / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the value of the real-time tissue elasticity imaging quantitative method in differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules.MethodsSeventy-three patients with thyroid nodules，including 95 lesions,were included in the study.A total of thyroid nodules were examined with traditional ultrasonography and elastosonography from which the strain ratios(SR)were derived，with pathologic results as the reference standard.And a receiver-operating charaeterisitc(ROC)curve was used to identify the value of optimal operating point for differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules.Results①The strain ratio of the benign lesions was 2.06 ±1.01，which was significantly different from the value of malignant lesions 5.05±2.23(P＜0.05).②The area under the curve was 0.929，which showed a high statistical significance.③It showed that the optimal operating point of ROC curve was 3.17，with high sensitivity(96.7%)，specificity(90.8%)，postive predictive value (93.3%)and negative predictive value(96.9%).Conclusions The real-time tissue elasticity imaging can provide a quantitative,noninvasive and convenient tool for evaluating the thyroid nodules.