Sonological Evaluation of Malignant Nodules of Thyroid - A Study of 173 Cases

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid ultrasound is the major diagnostic modality for evaluating thyroid nodules. The ultrasound features such as marked micro calcifications, hypoechogenicity and irregular margins were found as potential predictor for the presence of thyroid malignancies. Thus to assess the utility of USG in evaluating thyroid nodules is important. Current research objectives were to study the usefulness of ultrasound in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules, to describe the thyroid nodules using ultrasound classification system and to compare the diagnostic indices for individual ultrasound features of different thyroid nodules. Material and methods: A prospective study was conducted among 173 patients attending the Radiology department of Sree Gokulam Medical College hospital from November 2011 to June 2013. Each thyroid nodule was assessed using GE voluson 7-30 Equipment scanner with a 5-13 GHz linear probe ultrasound. The diagnostic indices of ultrasonography with FNAC/biopsy as gold standard were studied. Data was analysed using statistical software SPSS. Results: On thyroid ultrasound examination, out of the 173 patients selected for the study, 16 of them had malignancy or suspicious for malignancy. Sensitivity of ultrasound to identify malignant thyroid nodule is 57% and specificity is 100% and the diagnostic accuracy is 93%. Sensitivity of ultrasound to identify benign thyroid nodule is 95% and specificity is 96% and the diagnostic accuracy is 95%. Conclusion: Ultrasound is good diagnostic tool for evaluating the benign from malignant thyroid nodule and unnecessary biopsies/surgeries could be prevented by proper ultrasound evaluation of thyroid Nodules.