Value of Sono- Elastography in Differentiation Between Benign and Malignant Thyroid Nodules

Abstract

The evaluation of thyroid nodules poses a challenge. Gray-scale ultrasound is excellent for the detection and characterization of thyroid nodules, but the accuracy for the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions based on single criteria is low. USE was introduced as a complementary tool to gray-scale US, which reflects the relationship between external compression and tissue deformation or strain. Soft-tissue structures are more compressible than harder ones and a firm-nature of a lesion is associated with a higher risk of malignancy. Several studies have proposed sonoelastography as an effective tool for differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Results of this study show that USE is a reliable noninvasive diagnostic procedure for evaluating dominant thyroid nodules. The benign histology of soft nodules on qualitative elastography can be predicted with a satisfactory level of certainty. In cases of hard lesions, the predictive probability for a malignant finding is very high. The semi-quantitative elasticity ratio is a useful index in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules since it can provide quantitative information about the stiffness of the nodules however ER ratio