Contribution of Ultrasound Strain Elastography to the Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Lesions: Randomized Controlled Study

OpenAlex İngilizce

Objective: We aimed to investigate the contribution of strain elastosonography to the distinction of benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Materials and Methods:The retrospective study included 135 patients who were detected with thyroid nodules on ultrasonography and then underwent fineneedle aspiration biopsy (FNAB).Semi-quantitative strain elastographic evaluation was performed and mean strain ratio was calculated for each nodule.The elastograms were classified using the Tsukuba fivepattern visual scoring system.Accordingly, the lesions with scores 1 and 2 were accepted as soft nodules (benign), score 3 as moderately hard nodules, and scores 4 and 5 as hard nodules (malignant).The nodules were divided as benign and malignant depending on the histopathological results.The FNAB results were compared with elasticity scores.Results: The patients included 18 (13.3%)men and 117 (86.7%) women.Of the 135 lesions, 113 (83.7%) were benign and 22 (16.3%) were malignant.Strain ratio value was statistically higher in malignant lesions compared to benign lesions (p<0.01).When compared with the histopathological results, elastosonography scoring had a sensitivity of 81.8%, specificity of 89.4%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 96.2%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 64.7%.However, compared with the strain ratio values, elastosonography scoring had a sensitivity of 77.3%, specificity of 87.6%, PPV of 95.2%, and NPV of 54.8% at a cutoff point of 4.850.Conclusion: Elastosonography is highly effective in the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions.