Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015:2015:908575.
doi: 10.1155/2015/908575. Epub 2015 Apr 14.

Strain US Elastography for the Characterization of Thyroid Nodules: Advantages and Limitation

Vito Cantisani  1 , Hektor Grazhdani  1 , Elena Drakonaki  2 , Vito D'Andrea  3 , Mattia Di Segni  1 , Erton Kaleshi  4 , Fabrizio Calliada  5 , Carlo Catalano  1 , Adriano Redler  3 , Luca Brunese  6 , Francesco Maria Drudi  1 , Angela Fumarola  7 , Giovanni Carbotta  7 , Fabrizio Frattaroli  3 , Nicola Di Leo  1 , Mauro Ciccariello  1 , Marcello Caratozzolo  1 , Ferdinando D'Ambrosio  1
Affiliations
Review

Strain US Elastography for the Characterization of Thyroid Nodules: Advantages and Limitation

Vito Cantisani et al. Int J Endocrinol. 2015.

Abstract

Thyroid nodules, with their high prevalence in the general population, represent a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. Ultrasound (US), although absolutely reliable in detecting thyroid nodules, is still not accurate enough to differentiate them into benign and malignant. A promising novel modality, US elastography, has been introduced in order to further increase US accuracy. The purpose of this review article is to assess the thyroid application of US strain elastography, also known as real-time elastography or quasistatic elastography. We provide a presentation of the technique, and of up-to-date literature, analyzing the most prominent results reported for thyroid nodules differentiation. The practical advantages and limitations of strain elastography are extensively discussed herein.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Benign thyroid nodule that appeared soft at SE, with score 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Malignant thyroid nodule that appeared hard at SE, with score 4.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Benign thyroid nodule that appeared soft at SE, with a strain ratio of 0.89 which corresponded with final histological diagnosis of benign nodule.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Malignant thyroid nodule that appeared hard at SE, with a strain ratio of 8.27, in the malignant range.
Figure 5
Figure 5
An example of a malignant thyroid nodule at 3D US and 3D SE; (a) the lesion appeared hypoechoic with ill marginated margins on three-axis planes; (b) and (c) the lesion appeared completely anelastic corresponding to score 4 at 3D USE with better delination of irregularity of the margins.
Figure 6
Figure 6
An example of a benign thyroid nodule which at 3D USE showed score 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Reiners C., Wegscheider K., Schicha H., et al. Prevalence of thyroid disorders in the working population of Germany: ultrasonography screening in 96,278 unselected employees. Thyroid. 2004;14(11):926–932. doi: 10.1089/thy.2004.14.926. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brander A., Viikinkoski P., Nickels J., Kivisaari L. Thyroid gland: US screening in a random adult population. Radiology. 1991;181(3):683–687. doi: 10.1148/radiology.181.3.1947082. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tumbridge W. M., Evered D. C., Hall R., et al. The spectrum of thyroid disease in a community: the Whick-ham survey. Clinical Endocrinology. 1997;7:481–493. - PubMed
    1. Iannuccilli J. D., Cronan J. J., Monchik J. M. Risk for malignancy of thyroid nodules as assessed by sonographic criteria: the need for biopsy. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2004;23(11):1455–1464. - PubMed
    1. Hoang J. K., Wai K. L., Lee M., Johnson D., Farrell S. US features of thyroid malignancy: pearls and pitfalls. Radiographics. 2007;27(3):847–860. doi: 10.1148/rg.273065038. - DOI - PubMed