CT diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma, thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter

Abstract

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of CT in thyroid carcinoma , thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter .Methods CT manifestations of 55 cases with thyroid disease were retrospectively analyzed ,among them 6 cases had 2 kinds of lesions , 20 cases had thyroid carcinoma , 22 cases had thyroid adenoma and 15 cases had nodular goiter .The lesions’location, number, density, margin, enhancement type , neighbor structures chan-ges and cervical lymph nodes were evaluated .Results Thyroid carcinoma , thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter were mainly located in single lobe and solitary , and there were no significant differences among the 3 types（P〉0.05）.All thyroid carcinoma lesions were with slightly low density （100%, 20/20）with calcification 75%（15/20）, which were significantly higher than those of thyroid adenoma 64%（14/22）,23%（5/22）and nodular goiter 47%（7/15）,40%（6/15）respectively.The differences had statistical significance （P〈0.05）.Most thyroid ade-noma had clear margin 91%（20/22）,which had significant differences with thyroid carcinoma 35%（7/20） and nodular goiter 60%（9/15）（P〈0.05）.80%（16/20）of the thyroid carcinoma had inhomogeneous enhancement and 64%（14/22）of the thyroid adenoma had markedly inhomogeneous enhancement .The difference had statisti-cal significance（P〈0.05）.Neighbor structures were compressed and displaced .7 cases（35%,7/20）of thyroid carcinomas invaded neighbor structures and 14 cases （ 70%,14/20 ） had cervical lymph nodes metastasis .Con-clusion CT manifestations of thyroid carcinoma , thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter were different , thus CT has great value in the diagnosis . Key words: Head and neck neoplasm; Thyroid; Tomography; X-ray computed