The Efficiency of Shear Wave Elastography Evaluation in Determining the Malignity Potential of Solid Thyroid Nodules

To evaluate the efficiency of quantitative shear-wave elastographic ultrasound evaluation in determining the malignity potential of solid thyroid nodules. In period between September 2014 and January 2016, 191 solid thyroid nodules of 189 patients who had referred from endocrinology clinic of our institution were enrolled in this study. The volumes, gray-scale ultrasound features and mean quantitative shear-wave-elastographic data of the nodules were recorded. Acoustic-radiation-force-impulse (ARFI) method was used for shear-wave evaluation. The fine-needle-aspiration (FNA) and the pathologic results of the operated patients were statistically analyzed with the shear-wave-elastography findings. In 189 patients, 159 were female and 30 were male. The cytopathologic results were with benign in-nature, with athypic-cytology and with malign or suspiciously malign in-nature or suspicion of malignity in 117, 28 and 21 nodules, respectively. The specimen from FNA was insufficient in 25 nodules. 34 nodules of 33 enrolled patients were operated. The cut-off-values in terms of mean-shear-wave-velocity value of nodules for differentiating the benign nodules from malign lesions were 2,735 m/s and 2,740 m/s in terms of FNA cytopathology and post-operative histopathology results, respectively (with 81.0 % sensitivity, 82.6% specificity; and 83.3% sensitivity, 93.7% specificity). Quantitative shear-wave-elastography evaluation is concluded to be an effective, non-invasive and practical imaging modality in considering the malignity potential of solid thyroid nodules.