Nodule Size Effect on Diagnostic Performance of Ultrasonography and Computed Tomography for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: To compare the abilities of ultrasonography (US) and Computed Tomography (CT) to identify calcifications and to predict probability of malignancy for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) and Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma (PTMC). Methods: We reviewed 1008 cases of PTC/PTMC with calcifications reported by pre-operative US, CT, or post-operative pathology. The size of the thyroid nodule was obtained from the US report and the maximum diameter (d) was documented. According to the nodule size (d), the PTC and PTMC groups were each divided into two subgroups, as follows: large PTC group (d ≥ 2 cm), small PTC group (1 cm < d < 2 cm), large PTMC group (0.6 cm ≤ d ≤ 1 cm), and small PTMC group (d < 0.6 cm). Results: In the 1008 patients, the ratio of females to males was 2.29 and the mean age was 40.9 years (standard deviation: 11.7 years). Of the 1008 records, 92.8% were found to have calcifications according to the US report, while 50.4% showed calcifications according to the CT report. This difference between US and CT reports was statistically significant (p < 0.0005). The percentages of US reports showing calcifications were similar for all four PTC and PTMC subgroups (93.7%, 94.3%, 92.1%, and 85.1%, respectively; p = 0.052), while the percentages of CT reports showing calcifications were significantly different among the PTC and PTMC subgroups (62.3%, 52.2%, 45.4%, and 31.3%, respectively; p < 0.0005). As for the prediction of malignancy, US was superior to CT in all four subgroups (large PTC group: 97.1% vs. 54.1%, small PTC group: 94.8% vs. 42.9%, large PTMC group: 97.2% vs. 32.0%, small PTMC group: 95.5% vs. 14.9%; p < 0.0005 for all pairwise comparisons). No significant difference was observed in terms of the ability of US to predict the malignancy of PTC versus PTMC (p = 0.31), while CT showed significant superiority in diagnosing PTC versus PTMC (p < 0.0005). The predictive value of CT for PTC declined as the nodule size decreased (p < 0.05 for all pairwise comparisons). Conclusion: Our results showed that US detected calcifications and predicted the malignancy of all nodule sizes of thyroid papillary carcinoma equally well, while the performance of CT declined with the reduction of nodule size.

Clinical value of SMI Combined with Low-Dose CT Scanning in differential diagnosis of Thyroid Lesions and Tumor Staging

“…Ideally, another examination means is performed before a SMI examination is carried out, and then a comprehensive assessment result is offered. The findings of Li et al 20 show: the detection rates of conventional ultrasound and SMI decrease with the reduction of nodules, while CT is superior over ultrasound for small nodules. Traylor et al 21 believe that CT imaging is very important for preoperative evaluation of thyroid masses and thyroid cancers, while CT should be used as an important auxiliary means of SMI.…”

Differential diagnosis of non-diffuse primary thyroid lymphoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma by ultrasound combined with computed tomography

“…Zheng et al have reported that clinical characteristics and sonographic features were helpful for diagnosis of PTL and diffuse sclerosing variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (DSVPTC) before surgery [15]. The treatment for PTL is mainly chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with not so expected benefit of surgical resection [2,16], while surgery is the preferred treatment for PTC [17,18]. High frequency ultrasonography is the first choice of thyroid disease examination [19,20], and studies [5,21] have shown that CT is a supplementary diagnostic technique for thyroid diseases, due to its advantages in determining the location and range of tumors as well as its superiority to ultrasound in evaluating the infiltration range.…”

Differential diagnosis of primary thyroid lymphoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma by ultrasound combined with computed tomography

“…PTL and PTC differ in the therapeutic method, although they are both thyroid malignancies. The treatment for PTL is mainly chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with not so expected bene t of surgical resection [2,8], while surgery is the preferred treatment for PTC [9,10]. High frequency ultrasonography is the rst choice of thyroid disease examination [11,12], and studies [5,13] have shown that CT is a supplementary diagnostic technique for thyroid diseases, due to its advantages in determining the location and range of tumors as well as its superiority to ultrasound in evaluating the in ltration range.…”