Analysis of the influencing factors of strain ratio in diagnosing thyroid nodules of thyroid imaging reporting and data system 4-6 categories / 中华医学超声杂志（电子版）

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the influencing factors of strain ratio in diagnosing thyroid lesions of thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) 4-6 categories, and explore the application value of elastic strain ratio in differentiating malignant thyroid nodules from benign ones under different influencing factors.Methods A retrospective analysis was made on the pathologic data of 278 nodules undergone TI-RADS ultrasonography stratification and ultrasound elestography, and 105 nodules of TI-RADS 4-6 categories were selected as research objects. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to identify the cut-off point for differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules. A logistic regression model was established to analyze the factors affecting strain ratio in the differential diagnosis on thyroid nodules of TI-RADS 4-6 categories. Analyses were made in groups to judging the sensitive, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive of strain ratio under the impact of different factors. Results The best cut-off point of ROC curve for benign and malignant nodules was 0.54. It was found through the logistic regression model that the strain ratio value was closely related to the size, calcification, and thyroid diffuse disease, and strain ration was of higher value in the thyroid nodules which were less than 1 cm without calcification and thyroid diffuse disease.Conclusions Three factors including size, calcification, and diffuse lesions of the thyroid nodules can influence the elastic strain ratio of TI-RADS 4-6 thyroid nodules. Comprehensive analysis of these three influencing factors can improve the application value of elastic strain ratio in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.