Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aim: In the general population, the frequency of thyroid micronodules is increasing and the prevalence of malignancy is higher in nodules at this size. The ultrasonographic features of these nodules are neither spesific nor sensitive Elastography gives information about the degree of hardness at the tissue level and provides assessment of malignancy risk of the nodule. The aim of the study was to investigate the diagnostic value of elastography in patients with thyroid micronodules.

Methods: Two hundred and twenty-four patients with thyroid micronodules were recruited in this prospective study. All patients underwent a thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). Elastography scores and indexes were measured with real-time ultrasound elastography (Preirus HV machine with 13 MHz linear transducer).

Results: The outcome of our study shows that malignant micronodules compared the bening micronodules, malignant micronodules were with higher elastography scores (ES) and strain indexes (SI) values (P<0.001). When we use ES to diagnose malignancy that ES is >3 providing 79.4% sensitivity and 98.1% specificity for diagnosing malignancy. The area under the curve (AUC) for the ES was 0.888 (P< 0.001). The best cut-off point for strain index which differentiates benign from malignant micronodules was 3.06 with 98% sensitivity, 91% specificity. AUC for the SI was 0.970 (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Elastography score and strain ratio of the thyroid micronodules are beneficial markers during malignancy investigation. According to our study, the strain index is better than elasto score when assessing the malignancy in thyroid micronodules.