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
. 2019 May 28;11(2):132-139.
doi: 10.4274/jcrpe.galenos.2018.2018.0137. Epub 2018 Oct 23.

Evaluation of Normal Thyroid Tissue and Autoimmune Thyroiditis in Children Using Shear Wave Elastography

Figen Bakırtaş Palabıyık  1 , Ercan İnci  1 , Esra Deniz Papatya Çakır  2 , Elif Hocaoğlu  1
Affiliations

Evaluation of Normal Thyroid Tissue and Autoimmune Thyroiditis in Children Using Shear Wave Elastography

Figen Bakırtaş Palabıyık et al. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol. .

Abstract

Objective: Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a user-independent ultrasonographic technique that evaluates tissue elasticity. It is used especially in the evaluation of thyroiditis and thyroid nodules when it is capable of distinguishing malignant from benign thyroiditis in adults. To date, no studies have evaluated SWE in pediatric thyroid patients. The aim of this study was to measure the elasticity of normal thyroid tissue in children and adolescents using SWE and to investigate its role in the diagnosis of pediatric autoimmune thyroiditis.

Methods: In total, 113 healthy children of whom 66 (58.4%) were girls and 57 children with autoimmune thyroiditis of whom 45 (78.9%) were girls were evaluated by SWE after B-mode ultrasound. The quantitative evaluation of normal thyroid tissue in healthy children and those with autoimmune thyroiditis was performed using shear wave velocity (SWV) values (m/s). Thyroid antibodies were consistent with autoimmune thyroiditis. Data were compared using descriptive and analytical statistics and receiver-operating characteristic curves.

Results: The mean ± standard deviation (range) of SWV value in thyroid parenchyma of the healthy children was 1.82±0.3 m/s (1.32-2.37) m/s. There was a significant positive correlation between age and SWV values which increased with age. The average SWV value of thyroid parenchyma in children with autoimmune thyroiditis was 3.7±1.2 (2.59-6.25) m/s which was statistically significantly greater than in healthy children (p=0.00). The cut-off value for elasticity with the highest diagnostic accuracy was 2.39 m/s; sensitivity and specificity were 97.4% and 100% respectively. There was no correlation between elasticity, thyroid function tests and autoantibody concentrations (p>0.05).

Conclusion: SWE is a useful imaging method that can be used with routine ultrasonography in evaluation of the thyroid in children.

Keywords: Shear wave elastography; children; thyroid; autoimmune thyroiditis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The evaluation of normal thyroid tissue with shear wave elastography
Figure 2
Figure 2
The evaluation of autoimmune thyroiditis with shear wave elastography
Figure 3
Figure 3
No significant differences are detected with shear wave velocity between the right and left thyroid lobes in healthy children
Figure 4
Figure 4
Positive correlation between age and shear wave velocity values
Figure 5
Figure 5
No significant differences were detected in intra-observer variability
Figure 6
Figure 6
Receiver-operating charestics showing the optimal shear wave velocity cut-off value for autoimmune thyroiditis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Monpeyssen H, Tramalloni J, Poiree S, Helenon O, Correas JM. Elastography of the thyroid. Diagn Interv Imaging. 2013;94:535–540. - PubMed
    1. Andrioli M, Persani L. Elastography techniques of thyroid gland:current status. Endocrine. 2014;46:455–461. - PubMed
    1. Dudea SM, Botar-Jid C. Ultrasound elastography in thyroid disease. Med Ultrason. 2015;17:74–96. - PubMed
    1. Arda K, Ciledag N, Aktas E, Arıbas BK, Köse K. Qantitative assessment of normal soft tissue elasticity using shear wave ultrasound elastography. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011;197:532–536. - PubMed
    1. Fukuhara T, Matsuda E, Endo Y, Takenobu M, Izawa S, Fujiwara K, Kitano H. Correlation between quantitative shear wave elastography and pathologic structures of thyroid lesions. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015;41:2326–2332. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources