Study Of Preoperative Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound In Diagnosing Cervical Lymph Node Of Thyroid Cancer

Objective:To evaluate the clinical value of preoperative ultrasound(US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) detection in diagnosing cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer and to determine the extent of lymph node dissection. Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 262 thyroid cancer patients’clinical datas,all of the patients had thyroid US,CEUS and identification of the regions of cervical lymph node metastasis.All the patients had underwent cervical lymph node dissection,recorded the lymph nodes’distributions.The pathology result were compared with those of US and CEUS. Results:The sensitivity of US in diagnosing the metastatic cervical lymph nodes of thyroid cancer was 30.8%,and the specificity was 89.0%. The sensitivity of CEUS in diagnosing the metastatic cervical lymph nodes of thyroid cancer was 62.7%,and the specificity was 94.5%.The sensitivity was statistically different between US and CEUS(P=0.000). The highest positive predictive value (PPV) of CEUS in diagnosing was region Ⅵ (93.9%),then in turn were region Ⅱ(92.3%),Ⅲ(84.9%),Ⅳ(80.4%),the lowest region was Ⅴ(62.5%). The accuracy rate of the CEUS guide the extent of the lateral neck dissection was 77.6%, which of the US was 63.8%.Conclusions:The CEUS for cervical metastatic lymph nodes of qualitative and positioning diagnosis is better than US, can guide the thyroid operative means and the extent of cervical lymph node dissection.