Study Of The Application Value Of Virtual Touch Tissue Quantificationon Thyroid Tissues In Patients With Hashimoto Thyroiditis

Objective To investigate the application value in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis by means of virtual touch tissue quantification.Methods There are 56 cases of Hashimoto thyroiditis(HT) and 26 cases with normal laboratory test and ultrasound from January of 2013 to June of 2014. Siemens Acuson S2000 using color doppler ultrasonography,9L4 linear array probe, with VTQ imaging software.Parameter:(1)Two-dimensional image:bilateral thyroid lobediameter,wide diameter, thickness and diameter isthmus thickness todiameter and superior thyroid atery(STA) diateter;measurement of superior thyroid artery(peak systolic velocity,PSV) and resistance index(RI) with the color doppler or spectrum color doppler.(2)VTQ: measurment of shera wave velocity(SWV) of upper,middle and lower pole on thyroid gland both in the Hashimoto thyroiditis group and the control group.Analysis using SPSS 18.0 software,measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation;SWV of HT and normal between the two groups were compared using two independent samples t-test were compared;among HT groups were comparedusing single factor analysis of variance,between two groups were compared using LSD test.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was drawn for the HT group to determine the best point,where the positive likelihood ratio(LR+),negative likelihood ratio(LR-) and the Youden index,with statistically significant differences (P <0.05).Results Characterristeics in Two-dimensional image of thyroid gland1.1 The HT group has the bigger volume than the control group,with statistically significant differences (P<0.05)1.2 The cases of HT group has the different thyroid blood supply from the control group,in which 3 cases with less blood supply,17 cases with mild more,28 cases with moderate supply,8 cases with significant increase blood supply.1.3 There is no different from the right gland and left gland on inner diameter of superior thyroid artery in the HT group(P>0.05),which has the widder diameter than the noraml group with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).1.4 There was no statistically significant difference between HT group STA’s PSV,RI of right lobe and left lobe(P>0.05).The STA’s PSV of HT group was higher than normal group(P<0.05).The STA’s RI was no statistically significant difference between HT group and normal group(P>0.05).2.Virtual touch tissue quantificationtest result2.1 The SWV of the HT group is higher than the normal control group,with statisically singnificant differnces.And there is no statisically significant differences in the group of HT on SWV.So does the two of the HT group with LSD test.2.2 Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was drawn to assess the diagnostic accuracy.The sensitivity and specificity of SMV(cut-off value=2.20m/s) in diagnosing HT was 92.9% and 84.6% respectively.The positive likelihood ratio(LR+) and negative likelihood ratio(LR-) was 6.03 and 0.08 respectively.The Youden index was 0.78.Area under the curve(AUC) was 0.93.Conclusion VTQ technology on the basis of conventional doppler ultrasound can assess the thyroid tissue quantitatively,and supply more information on diagnosis and theraphy.