Differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules by multivariate analysis / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the feasibility and value of routine clinical preoperative examination predicting benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods The clinical data of 1630 patients undergoing thyroidectomy for nodular thyroid disease were analyzed retrospectively.The relationship between pathological diagnosis and physical examination,ultrasonographic parameters,the results of laboratory test and nuclear medicine test were examined to build a risk prediction model.The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of the formula were tested. Results In 387 cystic nodules 0.78％ were malignant; In 1243 solid nodules 17.2％ were malignant.Among the 1243 cases,characters significantly related to malignancy wereage younger than 40 years,solitary lobe involvement,hypoechoic nodule,irregular margins,solid nodule,microcalcification,macrocalcification,max diameter ≤ 2 cm. The prediction formula was malignancy indicator =0.80 × age + 0.59 × solitary lobe + 0.72 × hypoechoic + 0.82 × irregular margin + 1.32 × solid nodule + 1.90 × microcalcification + 0.70 × macrocalcification + 0.71 × max diameter.The threshold limit value was 2.8,and the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of which were 74.4％,80.4％ and 75.2％,respectively. Conclusions Benign and malignant thyroid nodules could be differentiated roughly with the combination of patients' general information and the results of routine examination before operation.