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Preoperative assessment of extrathyroidal extension of papillary thyroid carcinomas by ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging: a comparative study

  • HEAD, NECK AND DENTAL RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the diagnostic performances of preoperative ultrasonography (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting extrathyroidal extension (ETE) in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Materials and methods

This retrospective study was approved by our institutional review board. Preoperative US and MRI were performed on 225 patients who underwent surgery for PTC between May 2014 and December 2018. The US and MRI features of ETE of each case were retrospectively and independently investigated by two radiologists. The diagnostic performances of US and MRI, including their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), and negative predictive values (NPV) for ETE, and their accuracy in predicting ETE were analyzed.

Results

Higher sensitivity and NPV in predicting minimal ETE were observed in US (87.5% and 76.2%, respectively) compared with MRI (71.3% and 61.7%, respectively) (p = 0.006 and p = 0.046, respectively). Meanwhile, MRI (85.4%) showed higher sensitivity than US (66.7%) in assessing extensive ETE (p = 0.005). MRI also showed significantly higher specificity and PPV than US in assessing overall ETE (p = 0.025 and p = 0.025, respectively).

Conclusion

Preoperative US should be used as the first line in predicting minimal ETE, and MRI should be added in extensive ETE assessment. Compared with US, MRI had higher specificity and PPV in detecting the overall ETE of PTC.

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Abbreviations

ETE:

Extrathyroidal extension

PPV:

Positive predictive value

US:

Ultrasonography

CCA:

Common carotid artery

RLN:

Recurrence laryngeal nerve

PTC:

Papillary thyroid carcinoma

NPV:

Negative predictive value

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

IJV:

Internal jugular vein

DWI:

Diffusion-weighted imaging

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Acknowledgements

We specially thank Qi Song, Rongbiao Tang, Shengping Hu, Weixia Li, Xueqin Xu, and Jianhua Chen for their important contributions.

Funding

This study has received funding by a grant-in-aid for scientific research from Wuxi Commission of Science and Technology (Project No. N20192027) and Wuxi Commission of Health (Project No. MS201901).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Shudong Hu and Heng Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital, Jiangnan University, No. 200, Huihe Road, Wuxi, 214062, Jiangsu, China

    Shudong Hu, Heng Zhang, Zongqiong Sun & Yuxi Ge

  2. Department of Radiology, Affiliated Renmin Hospital, Jiangsu University, No. 8, Dianli Road, Zhenjiang, 212002, Jiangsu, China

    Shudong Hu, Heng Zhang & Xian Wang

  3. Department of Interventional Radiology, Affiliated Hospital, Jiangnan University, No. 200, Huihe Road, Wuxi, 214062, Jiangsu, China

    Jie Li

  4. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214062, China

    Chunjing Yu

  5. School of Digital Media, Jiangnan University and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Digital Design and Software Technology, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Zhaohong Deng

  6. GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, 100176, China

    Weiqiang Dou

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  1. Shudong Hu
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Correspondence to Xian Wang.

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This retrospective study was approved by the local ethics committee of our university hospital, and the requirement for informed consent was waived.

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Hu, S., Zhang, H., Sun, Z. et al. Preoperative assessment of extrathyroidal extension of papillary thyroid carcinomas by ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging: a comparative study. Radiol med 125, 870–876 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01184-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01184-0

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