A preliminary study of real-time elastosonography in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules

Objective To investigate the value of real-time elastosonography in the diagnosis of thyroid lesions. Methods The elastograms of thyroid lesions in 40 patients with 44 nodules were analyzed and classified into 0～IV five grades ,with pathology as the reference standard. The lesions with grade more than III were diagnosed as malignancy. Results The elastographic grades of most benign nodules were 0～II , while those of thyroid malignancies were III～IV. If thyroid nodules of elastographic grade III or IV were diagnosed as malignancies, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the elastosonography in the diagnosis of thyroid malignancies were 100%,77.1% and 81.8%. Conclusion Real-time elastosonography is helpful for the diagnosis in thyroid diseases.