Virtual touch tissue imaging quantification in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant TI-RADS 4 thyroid nodules

Abstract

Objective To observe the value of virtual tough tissue imaging quantification (VTIQ) in differential diagnosis of thyroid imaging reporting and data system(TI-RADS) 4 thyroid nodules. Methods A total of 185 patients with 192 TI-RADS 4 nodules were included in this study. The nodules were divided into three groups according to the maximum size as follows: Group Ⅰ, the maximum size≤0.6 cm; Group Ⅱ, 0.6 cm 1.0 cm. Shear wave velocities(SWV) of nodules were measured by means of VTIQ technique. With pathological diagnosis as the gold standard, SWV value of benign and malignant nodules were analyzed and ROC curve was drawn to assess the diagnostic efficiency. Results By the ROC curve test, at SWV cut-off values of 2.44 m/s for group Ⅰ and group Ⅱ, 2.49 m/s for group Ⅲ, the sensitivity were 79.0%, 76.0%, 88.6%, specificity were 88.6%, 89.5%, 93.7%, accuracy were 83.5%, 81.8%, 90.1%, Youden index were 0.68, 0.66, 0.82, respectively. Conclusions VTIQ can reflect the hardness of TI-RADS 4 nodules, the value of the differential diagnosis of such nodules is high, convenient, noninvasive and not limited by the size of nodules. Key words: Elasticity imaging techniques; Thyroid nodule; TI-RADS; Virtual tough tissue imaging quantification