Diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with BRAF V600E mutation for cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic efficacies of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) combined with BRAF V600E mutation detection in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology of thyroid nodules with atypia of undetermined significance . Methods A total of 129 thyroid nodules underwent the examinations of CEUS and BRAF V600E mutation were analyzed retrospectively . With surgical pathology as the gold standard ,ROC curve was used to investigate the diagnostic values of CEUS , BRAF V600E and the combination of the two methods . Results The sensitivity ,specificity and accuracy of CEUS and BRAF V600E gene detection for thyroid nodules with atypia of undetermined significance diagnosed by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy were 86 .7％ ,83 .3％ ,85 .3％ and 72 .0％ , 100％ ,83 .7％ ,respectively . The sensitivity and accuracy of CEUS were higher than those of BRAF V 600E gene detection ( all P < 0 .001 ) ,however its specificity was lower than BRAF V 600E with statistically significance( P < 0 .001) ,those of the combined test of CEUS and BRAF V600E mutation analysis were 94 .7％ ,83 .3％ ,89 .9％ ,respectively . The combination of two methods had the highest diagnostic efficacy , with statistically difference ( P <0 .001) ,and the area under the ROC curve ( AUC) was higher than that for each test(0 .951 vs 0 .860 vs 0 .901) . Conclusions The combined test of CEUS and BRAF V600E mutation has a higher diagnostic efficacy for cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules compared with CEUS or BRAF V600E mutation alone .