Value Of Ultrasonic Elastography In The Diagnosis Of Thyroid Nodules And Influencing Factors

Purpose:To study the value of ultrasonic elastography (UE) in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid nodules, and further to explore the possible influencing factors of elastography in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.Methods:The images of155thyroid nodules were obtained by both conventional ultrasound and UE. Pathologic diagnoses of all nodules were established after surgery. Among them,155nodules were divided into4groups according to the size, with the diameter of less than1centimeter.1to2centimeters,2to3centimeters and over3centimeters, respectively. The elastographic and pathologic diagnoses were compared in four groups. Then97lesions with the diameter ranging from5to15mm were divided into superficial and deep group. The elastographic and pathologic diagnoses in the two groups were compared. Results:In155cases, there were80benign and75malignant lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy of conventional ultrasound and UE in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules were72.0%.86.3%,79.4%�'�85.3%、72.5%、78.7%. Statistical analysis showed there was no significant difference in accuracy between conventional ultrasound and UE. However,ultrasonic elastography can diagnose correctly20thyroid nodules that were misdiagnosed by conventional ultrasound, it can make up for the deficiency of conventional ultrasound.Among the four groups of different-sized nodules, the larger the nodules were, the higher sensitivity were showed. In terms of different locations, the deeper nodules had higher sensitivity compared to the superficial ones.Conclusions:Ultrasonic elastography played an important role in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid Nodules, it can make up for the deficiency of conventional ultrasound. However, UE technique was influenced by many factors. It had limitation to some extent.