Research Article
Role of High Resolution Ultrasonography Evaluation of Thyroid Nodules and Pathological Correlation
Penaka H1, Venkatesh M1* and Manjunatha YC2
1Department of radiodiagnosis, Narayana medical college & hospital, India
2Consultant Radiologist Sree chowdeswri, Multispeciality Hospital, Kolar, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding author: Venkatesh M, Assistant Professor, Department of radiodiagnosis, Narayana medical
college & hospital, Nellore-524 002, A.P, India
Copyright: © 2019 Penaka H, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Abstract
Aims and objectives: To identify morphologic patterns on High Resolution Sonography (HRS) those are predictive of benign and malignant nodules and to evaluate the efficacy of histopathology and HRS in differentiating benign and malignant nodules.
Materials and methods: Over a period of 18months, 50 patients referred for USG of the thyroid to R.L. Jalappa Hospital and Research Centre, Tamaka,
Kolar, Karnataka who were diagnosed clinically with solitary thyroid nodule. Thyroid sonographic findings relevant to benign or malignant nodules were
recorded and these findings were compared with histopathology reports of the thyroidectomy specimen.
Results: Out of 50 cases of solitary thyroid nodules, 35(70%) cases were benign and 15(30%) were malignant. Among benign lesions, adenomas were
the most commonest group comprising 45.8%, followed by nodular goiter 22.9%. Among malignant, papillary carcinomas were the most commonest group
86.7%, followed by follicular carcinoma 13.3%. Majority of the patients are in the age group of 31-40 years. Among malignant lesions, papillary carcinoma was
the most common and medullary was the least common type. Follicular carcinoma was seen in 2(13.3%) cases among malignant lesions. Out of 50 cases of
solitary thyroid nodules evaluated at USG, 33 were diagnosed to be benign, 17 were malignant, after histopathological evaluation, 35 out of 50 cases were
found to be benign and 15 were malignant. Ultrasound is a safe, fairly accurate investigation to differentiate benign from malignant etiology with sensitivity of
85.7 % and specificity of 80 %. USG proved to be a more sensitive modality to differentiate benign from malignant lesions.
Conclusion: Thyroid nodules were common in the females of age group 31-45 years. Ultrasound is a safe, fairly accurate investigation to differentiate
benign from malignant etiology with sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 85.7%. Ultrasound features of thyroid nodules are useful to distinguish patients with
clinically significant thyroid nodules from those within nocuous nodules despite the overlap of findings