Thyroid nodule sizes influence the diagnostic performance of TIRADS and ultrasound patterns of 2015 ATA guidelines: a multicenter retrospective study

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of thyroid nodule sizes on the diagnostic performance of thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TIRADS) and ultrasound patterns of 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines. Total 734 patients with 962 thyroid nodules were recruited in this retrospective study. All nodules were divided into three groups according to the maximal diameter (d < 10 mm, d = 10–20 mm and d > 20 mm). The ultrasound images were categorized based on TIRADS and ATA ultrasound patterns, respectively. A total of 931 (96.8%) and 906 (94.2%) patterns met the criteria for TIRADS and ATA ultrasound patterns. The AUC (0.849) and sensitivity (85.3%) of TIRADS were highest in d = 10–20 mm group. However, ATA had highest AUC (0.839) and specificity (89.8%) in d > 20 mm group. ATA ultrasound patterns had higher specificity (P = 0.04), while TI-RADS had higher sensitivity (P = 0.02). In nodules d > 20 mm, the specificity of ATA patterns was higher than TIRADS (P = 0.003). Our results indicated that nodule sizes may influence the diagnostic performance of TIRADS and ATA ultrasound patterns. The ATA patterns may yield higher specificity than TIRADS, especially in nodules larger than 20 mm.

American Thyroid Association ultrasound system for the initial assessment of thyroid nodules: Use in stratifying the risk of malignancy of indeterminate lesions

“…[3][4][5][6] To date, sparse data to confirm these estimations in clinical practice have been reported, and some articles have evaluated the ATA system in a series of nodules with histologic outcome. 20,21 These studies confirm that the ATA guidelines provide effective malignancy risk stratification for thyroid nodules. Even if these ultrasound risk stratification system have been proposed for the initial assessment of thyroid nodules and to select nodules at higher risk of malignancy, more recently 2 articles have investigated their reliability in predicting malignancy in a specific series of indeterminate thyroid lesions.…”

“…To cover these limitations, several ultrasound risk stratification systems have been published . To date, sparse data to confirm these estimations in clinical practice have been reported, and some articles have evaluated the ATA system in a series of nodules with histologic outcome . These studies confirm that the ATA guidelines provide effective malignancy risk stratification for thyroid nodules.…”

Advantages of the Korean Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System Combined with Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Diagnosing Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma

“…Between February 2015 and September 2017, 143 patients (32 male, and 111 female) who had a total of 150 micro space-occupying lesions of the thyroid and were treated at our hospital were included in this retrospective study. The histologic types of the thyroid nodules were confirmed by fine-needle aspiration or surgery (4). The mean ± standard deviation [SD] age of the 143 patients was 45.4 ± 10.8 years (range, 21 -64 years).…”

“…The American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommend against performing US-guided fine needle aspiration or core-needle biopsy for PTMC, as long as the nodules are confined to the thyroid (3,4). Conventional ultrasonography (US) is the most sensitive test to detect thyroid nodules, reveal lymph-node metastases and select the lesions for fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy (5).…”

World Thyroidology News (#4 2016)

“…щитовидной железы на диагности-ческую точность классификации TIRADS: многоцентровое ретроспективное исследование [13] Для оценки влияния размеров узлов щитовид-ной железы (ЩЖ) на эффективность диагностики по классификации TIRADS в ретроспективном иссле-довании были отобраны 734 больных с 962 узловыми образованиями ЩЖ. Все узлы были разделены на три группы в зависимости от максимального диамет-ра (D < 10 мм, D = 10-20 мм и D > 20 мм).…”