Does Lesion Size Affect the Value of Shear Wave Elastography for Differentiating Between Benign and Malignant Thyroid Nodules?

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) combined with conventional ultrasonography (US) for differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid nodules of different sizes.

METHODS: A total of 445 thyroid nodules from 445 patients were divided into 3 groups based on diameter (group 1, ≤ 10 mm; group 2, 10-20 mm; and group 3, > 20 mm). The mean elasticity index of the whole lesion was automatically calculated, and the threshold for differentiation between benign and malignant nodules was constructed by a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Diagnostic performances of conventional US and SWE were compared by using pathologic results as reference standards.

RESULTS: The mean elasticity was significantly higher in malignant versus benign nodules for all size groups. The differences in mean elasticity in the size groups were not statistically significant for malignant or benign nodules. The specificity of US combined with SWE for group 1 was significantly higher than that for groups 2 and 3 (77.8% versus 62.9% and 53.3%; P < .05), and compared with group 1, the sensitivity was significantly higher for groups 2 and 3 (92.4% and 94.3% versus 80.7%; P < .05). When SWE was added, the specificity increased and the sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy decreased for group 1, and the sensitivity increased and the specificity decreased for groups 2 and 3; however, the differences were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS: Combined with SWE, US yielded higher specificity for nodules of 10 mm and smaller and higher sensitivity for nodules larger than 10 mm.