Real-Time Elastography in the Evaluation of Diffuse Thyroid Disease: A Study Based on Elastography Histogram Parameters

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of quantitative histogram parameters using real-time tissue elastography (RTE) in the diagnosis of patients with diffuse thyroid disease. One hundred and sixteen patients (mean age, 43.7 ± 10.97 y) who had undergone pre-operative staging ultrasonography and RTE were included. For each patient, 11 parameters were obtained from RTE images, from which the “elastic index” was calculated. Diagnostic performance of the elastic index and that of the 11 parameters on RTE were calculated and compared. Of the 116 patients, 31 had diffuse thyroid disease and 85 had normal thyroid parenchyma. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az) of MEAN (average relative value) elasticity was high (0.737), without significant differences from other elasticity values. Diagnostic performance of the elastic index was higher than the MEAN, Az = 0.753, without significance (p = 0.802). In conclusion, RTE using the elastic index was found to have good diagnostic performance and may be useful in the diagnosis and management of patients with diffuse thyroid disease.