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Assessment of thyroid gland elasticity with shear-wave elastography in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patients

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Abstract

Purpose

We aimed to investigate the use and effectiveness of Shear-Wave Elastography (SWE) in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (HT) diagnosis and compare the SWE values in HT patients with asymptomatic volunteers.

Methods

The thyroid gland parenchyma of 74 patients whose clinical and laboratory findings and ultrasonography (US) features were indicative of HT and 75 healthy, asymptomatic participants with normal laboratory values were examined using SWE. Their thyroid parenchymal echoes and thyroid gland volume were measured using B-mode US examination. Elastographic measurements were made by plotting the boundaries of thyroid gland by hand, using Free Region of Interest (ROI). The quantitative SWE values [meters/second (m/s) and kilopascal (kPa)] were compared betweent the patients and the controls. The correlation analyses between the SWE measurements and the autoantibodies [Anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAbs) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAbs)], thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), freetriiodothyronine (fT3), free-thyroxine (fT4), and thyroglobulin levels were performed.

Results

The mean thyroid SWE measurement values of HT group were significantly higher than the asymptomatic group (p < 0.001). This study proposes 29.45 kPa or 2.77 m/s as a sensitive-spesific cut-off value for HT. We revealed significant positive association between SWE values and TgAb levels, gland volume, TgAb, TPOAb levels, and a significant negative association between SWE and echogenicity (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

In the assessment of HT, SWE is a highly sensitive imaging method to estimate the degree of fibrosis and to provide objective numerical values.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Medicine Faculty, Sutçu Imam University, Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye

    Turgay Kara

  2. Department of Radiology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Konya, Turkey

    Fatih Ateş

  3. Department of Radiology, Medicine Faculty, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey

    Mehmet Sedat Durmaz & Mehmet Öztürk

  4. Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Konya, Turkey

    Nesibe Akyürek

  5. Karatay Community Health Center Family Medicine, Konya, Turkey

    Funda Gökgöz Durmaz

  6. Department of Radiology, Gynecology-Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, Isparta, Turkey

    Bora Özbakır

Authors
  1. Turgay Kara
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  2. Fatih Ateş
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  3. Mehmet Sedat Durmaz
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  4. Nesibe Akyürek
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  5. Funda Gökgöz Durmaz
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  6. Bora Özbakır
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  7. Mehmet Öztürk
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Contributions

Study concept and design: TK and MSD; analysis and interpretation of data: FA and NA; drafting of the manuscript: TK and MSD; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: BÖ and MÖ; statistical analysis: FGD.

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Correspondence to Turgay Kara.

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Authors declare that there are no financial or other relations that could lead to a conflicts of interest.

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Patients were provided with detailed information about the procedures and they signed written consent forms. The approval of the ethics committee was obtained before the initiation of the study.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kara, T., Ateş, F., Durmaz, M.S. et al. Assessment of thyroid gland elasticity with shear-wave elastography in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patients. J Ultrasound 23, 543–551 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00437-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00437-y

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