Comparison of Virtual Touch Tissue Imaging & Quantification (VTIQ) and Toshiba shear wave elastography (T-SWE) in diagnosis of thyroid nodules: Initial experience.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of two different 2D shear wave speed imaging techniques of Virtual Touch Tissue Imaging & Quantification (VTIQ) and Toshiba shear wave elastography (T-SWE) in predicting malignant thyroid nodules (TNs). 75 TNs in 75 patients which were subject to both VTIQ and T-SWE examinations were enrolled and analyzed. Shear wave speed (SWS) values on VTIQ and T-SWE were computed (SWS_max, min, mean and median). Area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was obtained to assess the diagnostic performance. The AUROC for VTIQ was the highest with SWS_min whereas for T-SWE was SWS_max (0.774 versus 0.851; p > 0.05). The AUROC, sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) corresponding to SWS_max for VTIQ were significantly lower than those for T-SWE (0.717 versus 0.851, 61.5% versus 92.3% and 78.7% versus 94.3%; all p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found between AUROC with SWS_min, SWS_mean, or SWS_median for VTIQ and SWS_max for T-SWE (all p > 0.05). In general, VTIQ is equal to T-SWE for diagnosis of TNs. In the clinical practice, the selection of SWS_max should be avoided in VTIQ whereas should be selected in T-SWE.