为弥漫的甲状腺腺病理的评估的 ARFI elastography : 初步的结果

AIM:To assess whether acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI)elastography can differentiate normal from pathological thyroid parenchyma.METHODS:We evaluated 136 subjects(mean age 45.8±15.6 years,106 women and 30 men):44(32.3%) without thyroid pathology,48(35.3%)with BasedowGraves’disease(GD),37(27.2%)with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis(CAT;diagnosed by specific tests),4(2.9%)with diffuse thyroid goiter and 3(2.2%)cases with thyroid pathology induced by amiodarone.In all patients,10 elastographic measurements were made in the right thyroid lobe and 10 in the left thyroid lobe,using a 1-4.5 MHZ convex probe and a 4-9 MHz linear probe,respectively.Median values were calculated for thyroid stiffness and expressed in meters/second(m/s).RESULTS:Thyroid stiffness(TS)assessed by means of ARFI in healthy subjects(2±0.40 m/s)was significantly lower than in GD(2.67±0.53 m/s)(P<0.0001) and CAT patients(2.43±0.58 m/s)(P=0.0002),but the differences were not significant between GDvs CAT patients(P=0.053).The optimal cut-off value for the prediction of diffuse thyroid pathology was 2.36 m/s.For this cut-off value,TS had 62.5%sensitivity,79.5% specificity,87.6%predictive positive value,55.5% negative predictive value and 72.7%accuracy for the presence of diffuse thyroid gland pathology(AUROC=0.804).There were no significant differences between the TS values obtained with linear vs convex probes and when 5 vs 10 measurements were taken in each lobe(median values).CONCLUSION:ARFI seems to be a useful method for the assessment of diffuse thyroid gland pathology.