Value of virtual touch tissue quantification technique in the diagnosis of small solid thyroid nodules

Objective To explore the application value of virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ) technique in differentiating small solid thyroid nodules.Methods The patients with suspiciously malignant thyroid nodules(solitary,size range 5-15 mm),homogeneous and normal color Doppler flow imaging in the rest of thyroid parenchyma,were enrolled in this study.Five repeated measurements were performed on both nodules and extra-nodular tissues using VTQ.A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drew according to shear wave velocity(Vs).Results 62 patients with a total of 67 lesions were included in this study,turned out to be 39 malignant and 28 benign.The Vs of malignant group nodules,malignant group extra-nodular tissues,benign group nodules and benign group extra-nodular tissues were (3.91 ±1.85) m/s,(2.03 ± 0.42)m/s,(2.29 ± 0.56)m/s,(1.84 ± 0.45)m/s,respectively.The Vs difference between malignant and benign nodules was statistically significant (P =0.000),while the Vs difference between malignant and benign extra-nodular tissues had no statistical significance (P =0.07).The best cutoff Vs value for distinguishing malignant from benign nodules was 2.78 m/s,with the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of 76.9％,78.6％ and 80.6％ respectively.The area under ROC curve was 0.84.Conclusions VTQ could evaluate the elasticity of thyroid nodules,and was helpful in the diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules. Key words: Ultrasonography; Thyroid neoplasms; Virtual touch tissue quantification