Real-time Shear Wave Elastography In Quantitative Evaluation Of Normal Thyroid And The Anterior Cervical Muscles

Objective To establish reference value of Young’s modulus of normal thyroid and the anterior cervical muscles.Methods 170 healthy volunteers underwent SWE detection to obtain the Young’s modulus value of thyroid and the anterior cervical muscles, and then analyzed the data according to gender and age.Results The reference Young’s modulus value of thyroid for female and male was (16.14±3.87) kPa and (17.44±4.44) kPa, and there was statistical significance between genders (P=0.009). There was significant difference of thyroid Young’s modulus for female between different age groups, but not for male. The reference Young’s modulus value of the anterior cervical muscles for female and male was (17.13±4.48) kPa and (19.26±5.34) kPa, there was statistical significance between genders (P=0.001).Age had no influence on the Young’s modulus value of the anterior cervical muscles. There was no significant difference between Young’s modulus of left and right thyroid lobe, and the left and right anterior cervical muscles(all P>0.05).The Young’s modulus value ratio of thyroid and the anterior cervical muscles for female was (0.98±0.18)and for male was(0.92±0.16).Conclusion It was feasible for real-time shear wave elastography in quantitative evaluation of normal thyroid and the anterior cervical muscles.