Clinical value of multi-slice spiral CT in diagnosis of thyroid disease

Objective: To study the spiral CT appearances of thyroid diseases and to evaluate the value of CT scan in diagnosis and clinical therapy of thyroid diseases.Methods: CT findings in 35 cases with various thyroid diseases confirmed pathologically were analyzed retrospectively.Results: ①There were 5 cases of thyroid inflammatory pathological changes: 3 cases were diffuse lesions,one case of them was enlarged;and 2 cases localized one lobe enlarged,of which 1 case was with calcification.② Fifteen cases with hyperplasia included 1 Graves disease of diffuse lesions with enlargement and 14 nodular hyperplasia.There were calcification in 3 and cystic change in 6.③ Fifteen cases of thyroid tumor included 8 thyroid adenomas with complete circumscribed enhanced ring around the lesion,6 of them were in company with cystic change and 2 with calcification.Seven cases were single lesion and one case was multiple lesions.Of 7 thyroid carcinoma,2 cases were in company with cystic change and 5 with calcification.Metastasis of cervical lymph nodus was found by CT in 3 cases.Metastatic lymph nodes presented marked enhancement,cystic change and calcification.Conclusion: CT scan both plain and contrast-enhanced are beneficial for the detection of thyroid diseases and also important for planning the management and predicting the prognosis of this disease.