The value of shear wave elastography for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of shear wave elastography (SWE)for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.Methods A total of 1 56 patients referred for surgery of thyroid nodules underwent standard ultrasound as well as elastography.The following characteristics of all the nodules were assessedlocation,size,shape,margin,echogenicity,calcification and blood flow.The SWE elasticity indices of maximum (Emax),mean (Emean),minimum (Emin),and standard deviation (Esd) were automatically calculated by the US system.Thresholds were calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC ) curve analysis.The diagnostic performance of conventional US and SWE were compared.Histopathologic examination was used as the reference standard.Results Among a total of 1 56 nodules,1 1 8 were malignant and 38 were benign.SWE elasticity indices were significantly higher in malignant than in benign nodules (P ≤0.001 ).Sensitivity and specificity for predicting malignancy were 83.9%,92.1 % respectively using Emean with a threshold of 32.1 kPa,the specificity was significantly higher than using conventional ultrasound (P 0.05).Conclusions SWE provides higher specificity for predicting malignancy without losing sensitivity.