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Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 GP236 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.GP236

ECE2016 Guided Posters Thyroid Cancer (1) (10 abstracts)

Utility of ultrasound shear wave elastography for diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules: evaluation of maximum and standard deviation elasticity values

Hye Jeong Kim , Mi Kyung Kwak , Hyeong Kyu Park , Dong Won Byun , Kyoil Suh & Myung Hi Yoo


Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.


Background: Shear wave elastography (SWE) is an emerging technique that can be used to evaluate malignancy in many organs. The aim of this study was to address the role of elasticity indices as a possible predictive marker for detecting papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and quantitative assessment of SWE for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Methods: One hundred and nineteen patients with thyroid nodules undergoing SWE before ultrasound (US)-fine needle aspiration (FNA) were analyzed. The SWE elasticity indices of mean (EMean), minimum (EMin), maximum (EMax) and its standard deviation (ESD) of nodules were measured.

Results: Among a total of 105 nodules, 14 were PTC and 91 were benign. EMean (P=0.005), EMin (P=0.034), EMax (P<0.001), and ESD (P<0.001) were significantly higher in PTCs than in benign nodules. The cut-off values with high accuracy of EMax and ESD for predicting PTCs were 45.9 kPa, achieved 57.1% sensitivity and 88.1% specificity, and 5.0 kPa, achieved 71.4% sensitivity and 88.1% specificity, respectively. No thresholds produced high sensitivity without lowering specificity appreciably, and vice versa.

Conclusions: Although the quantitative assessment of SWE was significantly higher in PTCs than benign nodules, the precision results do not suggest a definitive role for SWE in identifying or excluding thyroid malignancy.

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