Gray scale ultrasonography in the diagnosis of thyroid swellings (work‐in‐progress)

Thyroid masses which fail to concentrate radioactive iodine may be benign or malignant cysts or solid tumors. A‐scan examination through any thyroid mass permits the differentation of a solid from a cystic consistency. The nature of solid masses is difficult to determine using the conventional B‐scan ultrasound equipment. Our experience to date suggests that the difficulty can be resolved by the use of high quality gray‐scale techniques which display the structure of normal glandular tissue, while malignant replacement is apparent as defects in this normal anatomy. The size and site of the thyroid implies that greatly improved resolution could be obtained by scanners dedicated to the examination of small superficial organs.