Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Ultrasoundelastography (USE) evaluates the tissue elasticity according to the local tissue displacement after a small compression applied by an ultrasound transducer. This technique is based on the concept that a hard lesion is associated to a higher risk of malignancy. The USE has been recently applied for characterization of thyroid nodules. The aim of our preliminary study was to assess the validity of USE for screening benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Methods: This preliminary study includes 57 thyroid nodules in 39 patients (32 females and 7 males, mean age: 52±11 years old) who were referred to the Endocrinological Unit at Atri hospital consecutively from March to December 2011. All nodules were examined using ultrasonography, USE and fine needle aspiration cytology. Nodules with cystic pattern or Thy 1 cytology were excluded. USE results were classified on the basis of the degree and the distribution of elasticity in 5 patterns: 1, 2, 3a, 3b and 4. All nodules were defined as benign or malignant on the basis of histological results.

Results and conclusions: The histological results revealed 50 benign nodules and 7 malignant lesions. The chi squared test showed that the association between the USE pattern and the histological definition tends to be statistically significant. In fact, USE pattern 4 was associated to a malignant lesion in 67% of the cases. In addition, the association with malignancy was found in 2% of the cases for the pattern 2, in 14% for pattern 3a and 8% for pattern 3b. However, a validation of these results might be obtained only by increasing our sample size.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector