| Objective: To explore the value of strain ratio method and scoring system inultrasound elastography for differentiating the benign and malignant thyroid nodules,and to compare the two methods.Method:85thyroid nodules were chosen to undergo ultrasound elastography(UE), and were evaluated with5-scoring system method, strain ratio indexes of thethyroid nodules were calculated as well as the sternocleidomastoid muscle tissue,with pathologic results as the reference standard. A receiver-operating characteristic(ROC) curve was used to identify the cut off point for differential diagnosis ofthyroid nodules.Result:①The strain ratio of the benign lesions was0.94±0.22, which wassignificantly different from the value of malignant lesions2.67±0.73(P=0.03).②It showed that the best cut-off point of ROC curve for benign and malignantnodules was1.45, with high accuracy(92.94%), sensitivity(88.89%), specificity(94.03%).③The area under the curve(AUC) of strain ratio evaluation was0.95,the AUC ofscoring system evaluation was0.89, The difference between them was no significant.④Compare the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the two methods, thedifference between them was no significant.Conclusion:Application of the sternocleidomastoid muscle as counterpart tomeasure thyroid nodule strain ratio is feasible. The elastic strain ratio of thyroidmalignant nodules is higher than benign ones, the hardness of thyroid carcinoma isgreater than the benign tumors. Strain ratio was a useful index as well as the ratingscore method in differential diagnosis of thyroid solid nodules, but the strain ratiomethod as a semi-quantitative assessment is more objective than the rating score. |
