The Diagnostic Efficacy of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Report and Data System (TI-RADS) and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) Risk Stratification Systems for Thyroid Nodules.

Guifang Xue,Guanqi Chen,Yungang Sun,Fei Chen,Yuqian Luo,Zhangtian Zhu,Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf,Haoyuan Ma,Qiang Li,Guanbin Li,Kongmei Luo,Jiaxin Yao

doi:10.1155/2022/9995962

Abstract

Background This study is aimed at evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasound-based risk stratification for thyroid nodules in the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) risk stratification systems. Methods 286 patients with thyroid cancer were included in the tumor group, with 259 nontumor cases included in the nontumor group. The ACR TI-RADS and ATA risk stratification systems assessed all thyroid nodules for malignant risks. The diagnostic effect of ACR and ATA risk stratification system for thyroid nodules was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis using postoperative pathological diagnosis as the gold standard. Results The distributions and mean scores of ACR and ATA rating risk stratification were significantly different between the tumor and nontumor groups. The lesion diameter > 1 cm subgroup had higher malignant ultrasound feature rates detected and ACR and ATA scores. A significant difference was not found in the ACR and ATA scores between patients with or without Hashimoto's disease. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) for the ACR TI-RADS and the ATA systems was 0.891 and 0.896, respectively. The ACR had better specificity (0.90) while the ATA system had higher sensitivity (0.92), with both scenarios having almost the same overall diagnostic accuracy (0.84). Conclusion Both the ACR TI-RADS and the ATA risk stratification systems provide a clinically feasible thyroid malignant risk classification, with high thyroid nodule malignant risk diagnostic efficacy.

Highlights

Thyroid nodules have increasingly been detected with boosts in the physical examination and the development of imaging techniques [1]
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasoundbased risk stratification for thyroid nodules in the American College of Radiology (ACR) TIRADS and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) risk stratification systems
Thyroid cancer diagnosis was significantly correlated with ACR (r = 0:688, P < 0:001 by point-biserial correlation) and ATA (r = 0:703, P < 0:001 by point-biserial correlation). These results showed that the diagnosis between the ACR and ATA risk stratification systems was highly consistent

Summary

Introduction

Thyroid nodules have increasingly been detected with boosts in the physical examination and the development of imaging techniques [1]. Due to its advantages, such as noninvasiveness, easy-to-operate, and accuracy, ultrasound examination has been widely used in thyroid examinations It is the preferred method for evaluating the malignant risk of thyroid nodules [2]. Several professional societies have published guidelines to assist practitioners in diagnosing ultrasonic features of thyroid nodules [4,5,6,7,8] These include the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) [7] and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) ultrasonography risk stratification of thyroid diagnosis and treatment guideline classification [4]. This study is aimed at evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasound-based risk stratification for thyroid nodules in the American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) risk stratification systems. Both the ACR TI-RADS and the ATA risk stratification systems provide a clinically feasible thyroid malignant risk classification, with high thyroid nodule malignant risk diagnostic efficacy

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion