Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Mummified Thyroid Nodules.

Mummified thyroid nodules (MTNs) are rarely reported and are usually misdiagnosed as malignant nodules. This article first reviewed the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) enhancement features of 218 MTNs and classified them into three (A, B, C) patterns. The A pattern MTNs show linear hypo-enhancement, the B pattern MTNs show heterogeneous hypo-enhancement, and the C pattern MTNs show no enhancement in thyroid nodules. The A and C pattern enhancements of MTNs demonstrated a high specificity compared with the enhancement of previously reported typical papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs). To further study the B pattern MTNs, 24 B pattern MTNs and 42 PTCs were enrolled in this study, and CEUS parameters for each nodule were evaluated. Univariate analysis indicated that compared with PTCs, the B pattern MTNs more frequently exhibited heterogeneous hypo-enhancement and clear margins after clearance (p <0.05). A multivariate analysis revealed that heterogeneous hypo-enhancement and clear margins after clearance were independent characteristics related to the B pattern MTNs for differentiating them from PTCs (p <0.05). Thus, preoperative CEUS may provide more important information for distinguishing MTNs from malignant thyroid nodules to avoid surgical excisions or unnecessary fine-needle aspiration (FNA). Copyright © 2022 Chen, Tang, Gong, Ye, Liao, Li, Zhang, Xu, Zhang and Niu.

Citation

Sijie Chen, Kui Tang, Yi Gong, Fei Ye, Liyan Liao, Xiaodu Li, Qi Zhang, Yan Xu, Rongsen Zhang, Chengcheng Niu. Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Mummified Thyroid Nodules. Frontiers in endocrinology. 2022;13:850698

Mesh Tags

PMID: 35370962

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