Analysis of the Value of Real-time Ultrasound Elastography in the Differen-tial Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Nodules

Objective To study the effect and application value of the real-time ultrasound elastography in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods 200 patients with thyroid disease(232 nodules) admitted in our hospital were randomly selected. The conventional ultrasound and real-time ultrasound elastography were used to differentiate benign and malignant thyroid nodules. And the nodules were divided into benign group and malignant group according to the pathological results. The pathological results of the nodules were compared with the detection results of the conventional ultrasound and real-time ultrasound elastography so as to evaluate the value of real-time ultrasound elastography in the differential diagnosis of benign from malignant thyroid nodules. Results According to the elastic grade, thyroid nodules ≤II were benign, ≥Ⅲ were malignant. The results showed that the accuracy of real-time ultrasound elastography in differentiating benign from malignant nodules was 90.95%, and that of the conventional ultrasound was 62.93%, the difference between them was statistically significant(P 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound elastography was 85.19%, 94.04%, respectively, and that of conventional ultrasound was 26.51%, 77.99%,respectively, the difference between them was statistically significant(P0.05). Conclusion Real-time ultrasound elastography has high accuracy in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, which can reduce the patients' dependence on pathological examination, alleviate the suffering of the patients with non-invasive identification, so it can be recommended.