Application of three-dimensional power Doppler angiography in the differential diagnosis of hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism

Objective To investigate the value of three-dimensional power Doppler angiography (3D-PDA) in discriminating hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism. Methods Forty patients with hyperthyroidism, 40 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and 40 healthy individuals were enrolled as the hyperthyroidism group, the subclinical hypothyroidism group and the control group. The thyroids of all the subjects in each group were detected by 3D-PDA. Region of interested (ROI) were defined, then the histogram and the quantification indexes were obtained, including mean gray (MG), vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization flow index (VFI). Results The values of MG, VI, FI and VFI in the hyperthyroidism group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P0.05). The values of VI, FI and VFI were significantly higher in the subclinical hypothyroidism group than the control group (P0.05), while MG showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The values of MG, FI and VFI were significantly lower in the subclinical hypothyroidism group than the hyperthyroidism group (P0.05), but VI showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion 3D-PDA is a newly developed technique to quantitatively assess the levels of gray and blood flow, which provides more objective and valuable information for the differential diagnosis of hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism.