Comments and discussion on the thyroid gland elastography World Recommendations 2015

The article presents 28 World recommendations on elastography, published in 2016 by the expert group of the World Association of Specialists in Ultrasound Diagnostics in medicine. The levels of evidence for each provision and the level of recommendations are given with the percentage of experts voting. The methodology, the clinical interpretation of the indices of different types of elastographs: compression elastography, point shear wave elastography, dual shear wave elastography are discussed. It is emphasized that elastography is an additional technique for ultrasound, consisting of the grey scale and Doppler regimes. In some provisions, it is indicated that the imposition of clinical data, for example, on medullary thyroid cancer, occurs. Numerical values of elastography are given not only for focal pathology, but also for diffuse thyroid diseases. These provisions are discussed in comparison with nodular goiter recommendations 2016 of Russian Endocrinology Association with a search for ways to validate the provisions for introduction into practical health care. These recommendations are necessary for inclusion in the TI-RADS system valid for Russia with the inclusion of the ultrasonic criterion “elastography” of the thyroid gland in the protocol of mandatory examination of patients with diffuse and focal diseases of the thyroid gland.