Shear wave elastography (SWE) in the evaluation of thyroid tissue in children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroiditis

Hanna Borysewicz-Sanczyk; Filip Bossowski; Katarzyna Anikiej; Beata Sawicka; Justyna Michalak; Janusz Dzięcioł; Artur Bossowski

doi:10.1530/endoabs.110.EP1553

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Endocrine Abstracts (2025) 110 EP1553 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.110.EP1553

ECEESPE2025 ePoster Presentations Thyroid (198 abstracts)

Shear wave elastography (SWE) in the evaluation of thyroid tissue in children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroiditis

Hanna Borysewicz-Sanczyk ¹ , Filip Bossowski ¹ , Katarzyna Anikiej ¹ , Beata Sawicka ¹ , Justyna Michalak ¹ , Janusz Dzięcioł ² & Artur Bossowski ¹

Author affiliations

¹Medical University of Bialystok, Department of Pediatrics, Endocrinology, Diabetology with a Cardiology Divisions, Bialystok, Poland; ²Medical University of Bialystok, Department of Human Anatomy, Bialystok, Poland

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Background: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease are autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) mainly diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms, hormonal analysis, positive autoantibody titres and ultrasound (US). However, there is a group of patients who, despite developing autoimmunity in the thyroid, do not show typical ultrasound findings or an increase in antibody titres. It is well known that the autoimmune process alters the echogenicity, echostructure and vascularity of thyroid tissue and is associated with the presence of focal changes within the gland, which influences the mechanical properties of the affected tissue like tissue stiffness and elasticity. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a non-invasive and painless to the patient ultrasound diagnostic method evaluating tissue’s stiffness. Recent data suggest that elastography may improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis of thyroid diseases. The purpose of the study is to assess the thyroid elasticity in children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroid disease in comparison to heathy thyroid children.

Methods: 74 pediatric patients with AITDs and 30 heathy thyroid children as a control are enrolled to the study and qualified to SWE which is followed by conventional US. SWE based on Young’s modulus is expressed in kPa. In addition, patients have their thyroid hormone levels and antithyroid antibody titers evaluated.

Results: Our results indicate that thyroid tissue elasticity in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’s disease is reduced in comparison to those with normal thyroid parenchyma.

Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that SWE might be a viable diagnostic method for suspection of AITD in children, however it still seems to need further studies in a bigger group of pediatric patients.