Value of elastography and fine flow imaging in differential diagnosis of cervical lymph nodes / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of ultrasonic elastography and fine flow imaging in differential diagnosis of cervical lymph nodes.Methods Totally 87 lymph nodes were examined with ultrasonic elastography,fine flow and conventional ultrasonography.The results were confirmed with postoperative pathology or fine-needle biopsy as well as follow-up.Using consistency check of Kappa and ROC curve to analyse the accuracy of three types of ultrasonic examination.Results Taking the results of postoperative pathology or fine-needle biopsy as well as follow-up as golden standards,the Kappa value of conventional ultrasonography was poor (Kappa =0.153,P =0.078),fine flow was moderate (Kappa =0.526,P ＜0.01) and ultrasonic elastography was better (Kappa =0.741,P ＜0.01).The area under ROC of ultrasonic elastography,fine flow and conventional ultrasonography was 0.899 (P ＜0.01),0.787 (P ＜0.01) and 0.568 (P =0.241),respectively.Conclusions Ultrasonic elastography is more valuable to differentiate malignant from benign lymph nodes.