Abstract
Measurement of thyroid size and volume is a useful clinical parameter in both human and veterinary medicine, particularly for diagnosing thyroid diseases and guiding corrective therapy. Procuring a fully-equipped clinical ultrasound unit (FCUS) may be difficult in most veterinary settings. The present study evaluated the inter-equipment variability in dolphin thyroid ultrasound measurements between a portable ultrasound unit (PUS) and a FCUS; for both units, repeatability was also assessed. Thyroid ultrasound examinations were performed on 15 apparently healthy bottlenose dolphins with both PUS and FCUS under identical scanning conditions. There was a high level of agreement between the two ultrasound units in dolphin thyroid measurements (ICC = 0.859–0.976). A high intra-operator repeatability in thyroid measurements was found (PUS: ICC = 0.854–0.984, FCUS: ICC = 0.709–0.954). As a conclusion, no substantial inter-equipment variability was found between PUS and FCUS in dolphin thyroid size measurements under identical scanning conditions, supporting further application of PUS for quantitative analyses of dolphin thyroid gland in both research and clinical practices at aquarium settings.
Highlights
Ultrasound is a non-invasive, real-time imaging tool that provides high resolution images for soft tissue characterization, and allows repeatable measurements. 2-D ultrasound has a prominent role in evaluating the morphology of the thyroid gland in humans [1–3] and companion animals [4–7]
Efforts have been made to establish a standardized scanning protocol in evaluating the morphology of the thyroid gland in a group of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins using a fullyequipped clinical ultrasound unit (FCUS) with 3-D ultrasound capabilities [15]
The aims of the present study were to evaluate the interequipment variability in dolphin thyroid ultrasound linear and cross-sectional area measurements between a portable ultrasound unit (PUS) (Aloka SSD 900) and a FCUS (Philips HD 11) under identical scanning conditions, and to assess the repeatability of these measurements using both ultrasound units
Summary
Ultrasound is a non-invasive, real-time imaging tool that provides high resolution images for soft tissue characterization, and allows repeatable measurements. 2-D ultrasound has a prominent role in evaluating the morphology of the thyroid gland in humans [1–3] and companion animals [4–7]. The thyroid volume is a useful clinical measure, in the diagnosis of thyroid diseases and accurate determination of the iodine-131 dosage used in radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Efforts have been made to establish a standardized scanning protocol in evaluating the morphology of the thyroid gland in a group of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins using a fullyequipped clinical ultrasound unit (FCUS) with 3-D ultrasound capabilities [15]. Using these equations [13,14], 4 ultrasound thyroid volume measurement methods (Methods A–D) were developed, in which 13 linear and 5 cross-sectional measurements were undertaken in the dolphin thyroid study. Since serial ultrasound measurements of the dimensions of thyroid gland have been proven to be useful in identifying thyroid diseases and monitoring treatment response [1,16,17], assessment of the aforementioned dimensions of the dolphin thyroid gland is essential, in addition to the thyroid volume itself
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