Incidental Thyroid Nodules on the COVID-19 Positive CT Chest

ABSTRACT

Background: The recent widespread of COVID-19 led to a marked increase in the number of CT chest examinations. This led to frequent encounters of associated incidental findings as thyroid nodules. Thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) using variable ultrasound feature-allowed systematic reproducible approach for diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules. Objective: This study aimed to detect the prevalence of incidental thyroid nodules in CT chest for COVID-19 cases as well as the percentage of malignant nodules among them and the concordance of TI-RADS classification with fineneedle aspiration cytology (FNAC) results. Patients and methods: This retrospective study included 895 patients with CT findings of COVID-19 pneumonia. 203 patients were excluded due to absent PCR confirmation of COVID-19, lack of ultrasound confirmation of thyroid nodules or lack of FNAC results, so our study included 692 patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia. Results: A solitary thyroid nodule was discovered in 134 CT chest scans of 692 patients with confirmed COVID-19 pulmonary pneumonia, with a 19.4% incidence. These patients underwent ultrasound evaluation for the thyroid nodule. The nodules with TI-RADS 1-3 score were considered benign yet those with 4-5 score were classified as malignant. The results of the FNAC were compared to the thyroid TI-RADS classification, with nodules classified as Bethesda II-III being benign and those classified as Bethesda IV to VI being malignant. Conclusion: Incidental thyroid nodule discovered during CT chest examination is an important finding and should be investigated and categorized using the TI-RADS system as even though the incidence of malignancy is not high, early diagnosis of thyroid malignancy can have a huge effect on the patient outcome. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine is the property of Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)