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The comparison of accuracy of ultrasonographic features versus ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology in diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare the diagnostic accuracy of sonographic features with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in the detection of malignant thyroid nodules.

Methods

This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with the diagnosis of thyroid nodule, who underwent ultrasound-guided FNA in Shahid Beheshti teaching hospital, Babol, northern Iran, between 2015 and 2017. The characteristics of the nodules obtained from ultrasonography were recorded. Regression analysis was used to assess the relation between sonographic findings and malignancy. We also used a receiver operator characteristics analysis to estimate the ability of ultrasound to predict the characteristic features of malignancy, as estimated by the area under the curve.

Results

In total, 898 thyroid nodules were included in the study, of which 55 (6.1%) were malignant and 843 (93.9%) were benign. There were significant positive associations between malignancy and hypoechogenicity [odds ratio (OR) 3.577, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.045–6.256], fine calcification (OR 5.849, 95% CI 2.642–12.949), irregular margin (OR 4.366, 95% CI 2.284–8.345) and taller-than-wide shape (OR 5.199, 95% CI 2.125–12.721). The overall accuracies of hypoechogenicity, irregular margin, taller-than-wide shape and fine calcification were 0.804, 0.729, 0.705 and 0.575, respectively.

Conclusion

According to the present study, the use of ultrasonography (along with ultrasound-guided FNA) is very effective in the diagnosis, follow-up, and indication for surgery of a thyroid nodule.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Vice Chancellor for the Research of Babol University of Medical Sciences for financial support. We are also thankful to Dr. Kourosh Movagharnejad for his help in cytological assessments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Mehrdad Nabahati & Naser Ghaemian

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Ganjafrooz Street, Babol, Mazandaran, 47176-47745, Iran

    Zoleika Moazezi

  3. Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Soude Fartookzadeh

  4. Department of Radiology, Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Rahele Mehraeen

  5. Department of Pathology, Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Majid Sharbatdaran

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  1. Mehrdad Nabahati
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Correspondence to Zoleika Moazezi.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This study was funded by the Vice Chancellor for the Research of Babol University of Medical Sciences (grant number 9603612).

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Nabahati, M., Moazezi, Z., Fartookzadeh, S. et al. The comparison of accuracy of ultrasonographic features versus ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology in diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules. J Ultrasound 22, 315–321 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00377-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00377-2

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