BACKGROUND: The present study was conducted to investigate the diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasonography (US) combined with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in thyroid micronodules with thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) category 3 and 4.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The features of conventional US and CEUS ion 102 case of thyroid micronodule samples, which were diagnosed based on pathological and clinical examination, were retrospectively analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the diagnostic accuracy in malignant thyroid micronodules. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the performance of those 2 technologies.

RESULTS: A significant difference in age was found between the benign and malignant groups. The benign and malignant groups showed significant differences in shape, margin, aspect ratio (A/T) ≥1, microcalcification, suspicious lymph gland, enhancement time, enhancement pattern, enhancement intensity, nodule sizes, enhancement margins, and rim-like enhancement. Logistic regression analysis of conventional US showed that A/T ≥1, irregular shape, microcalcification, and suspicious lymph glands are risk factors for thyroid micronodules, while logistic regression analysis of CEUS showed that slow enhancement time and absence of rim-like enhancement are risk factors for thyroid micronodules. Logistic regression analysis of conventional US combined with CEUS demonstrated that A/T ≥1, microcalcification, suspicious lymph gland, slow enhancement time, and absence with rim-like enhancement are risk factors. The ROC curve for conventional US, CEUS, and conventional US combined with CEUS were 90.0%, 90.7%, 99.0%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that conventional US combined with CEUS had superior diagnostic performance for TI-RADS 3 and 4 thyroid micronodules compared with conventional US and CEUS alone.

Keywords: Contrast Media, Diagnosis, Differential, Lymph Nodes - pathology, Thyroid Nodule - pathology, Ultrasonography - methods