Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: There are several classifications based on thyroid ultrasound for selecting suspected malignant thyroid nodules. In 2017 the European Thyroid Association developed a new and simple European Thyroid Imaging and Reporting Data System (EU-TIRADS), which classifies the risk of malignancy of thyroid nodules in adults to the following categories: benign, low-, intermediate-, and high-risk.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of the EU-TIRADS for detecting malignant thyroid nodules.

Methods: A retrospective study of 213 patients (335 nodules) who underwent thyroid surgery at our ENT department, from 2013 to 2021. Histological results were correlated to the ultrasound findings.

Results: Our study included 193 women and 20 men. The mean age was 46,8 years. The percentage of each EU-TIRADS class was: EU-TIRADS 2 = 12,8 %, EU-TIRADS 3 = 43,9 %, EU-TIRADS 4 = 7,2 % and EU-TIRADS 5 = 36,2%. Thyroid cancer was noted in 14,6% and 85,4% of the cases had benign nodules. The risk of malignancy was: EU-TIRADS 2 = 4,6 %, EU-TIRADS 3 = 6,1 %, EU-TIRADS 4 = 8,3 % and EU- TIRADS 5 = 80,09 %. Correlation of histological results with preoperative ultrasound findings showed a sensitivity of 77,55%, a specificity of 62,95% with positive and negative predictive values of 26,21% and 94,21% respectively.

Conclusion: To conclude, EU-TIRADS is a simple tool in assessing the malignancy of thyroid nodules, which demonstrates a good clinical correlation with histological results. Because of its good sensitivity it can be used in selecting nodules with a high risk of cancer.