Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Thyroid pathology, particularly nodular, is very frequent. It is in most cases benign, thyroid cancer remains rare (5% of nodules). Thyroid ultrasound is the reference examination and should be performed in all patients with known or suspected thyroid nodules. It will allow the detection, diagnosis, search for signs of malignancy and monitoring of these nodules. The aim of our study is to investigate the correlation between the ultrasound signs of malignancy and the risk of thyroid cancer.

Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study including 85 patients with thyroid nodules. Conducted at the Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nutrition Department of the Mohammed VI University Hospital Center of Oujda in the East of MOROCCO.

Results: The average age of our patients was 45 ± 14.1 years with a female predominance of 88%. The location of thyroid nodules was variable with no statistically significant relationship with the risk of malignancy (P=0.348). The mean size of benign nodules was 35.1 mm, whereas malignant nodules had a mean size of 31.8 mm (P=0.580). The nodules were taller than wide in 8.7% of cases with a statistically significant relationship with the risk of malignancy (P= 0.004). We did not find a significant relationship between hypoechoic or isoechoic nodules and malignancy (P=0.168). On the other hand, irregularity of the contours was noted in 12% of the cases and had a statistically significant relationship in predicting cancer (P=0.015). We had the same finding for microcalcifications (P=0.017) and central vascularization (P=0.021). We noted 2.2% of cases classified as EU-TIRADS2, 35.2% of cases classified as EU-TIRADS3, 49.5% of cases classified as EU-TIRADS 4 and 14.1% of cases classified as EU-TIRADS5. Fine-needle aspiration was performed in 86.9% of cases, 13% of cases came back malignant. The EU-TIRADS and Bethesda 2017 correlation had a statistically significant relationship (P= 0.004).

Discussion and conclusion: Our results were consistent with the literature, allowing us to conclude that a good diagnostic approach using ultrasound by an experienced clinician, followed by fine-needle aspiration, when indicated, facilitates the therapeutic management of these thyroid nodules, promoting high quality care while minimizing cost and unnecessary surgeries.