Added Value of Superb Microvascular Imaging and Virtual Touch Imaging Quantification in Assisting Thyroid Cancer Classification

• Main Authors: Deng, S.-H (Author), Jiang, Q. (Author), Shan, J. (Author), Shi, X.-R (Author), Zhang, Y. (Author), Zhu, Y.-C (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc. 2021
• Subjects: adult; Areas under the curves; Article; B scan; Blood vessels; cancer classification; controlled study; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; diagnostic imaging; diagnostic test accuracy study; diagnostic value; differential diagnosis; Diseases; Doppler ultrasound; echography; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; elastography; Elastography; female; fine needle aspiration biopsy; histopathology; human; human tissue; Humans; major clinical study; male; Mean maximums; Mean ratio; Medical imaging; Microvascular; middle aged; nodular goiter; Prospective Studies; prospective study; receiver operating characteristic; sensitivity and specificity; Sensitivity and Specificity; Shear flow; Shear wave speed; Shear waves; superb microvascular imaging; thyroid cancer; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid cancers; Thyroid Neoplasms; thyroid nodule; Thyroid nodule; Thyroid Nodule; thyroid papillary carcinoma; thyroid tumor; tumor differentiation; tumor vascularization; tumor volume; Ultrasonography; Virtual touch; virtual touch imaging quantification
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 This prospective study determined the value added by superb microvascular imaging (SMI) and Virtual Touch imaging quantification (VTIQ) to conventional ultrasonography in classifying malignant and benign thyroid nodules. One hundred eighty-three thyroid nodules (TNs) in 120 patients (112 benign and 71 malignant TNs) were evaluated. SMI revealed noticeable variance between benign and malignant TNs (p < 0.001). Malignant nodules tended to have rich vascularity (grade 3: 38/71, 53.5%) compared with benign nodules (grade 3: 33/112, 29.5%). There is a statistically significant difference between malignant and benign TNs with respect to shear-wave speed (SWS) values (all p values <0.001). The SWS mean, maximum and ratio of malignant nodules were 3.97 ± 1.34, 4.79 ± 1.70 and 1.25 ± 0.39, respectively. The SWS mean, maximum and ratio of benign nodules were 2.65 ± 0.42, 2.97 ± 0.46 and 1.15 ± 0.35, respectively. With respect to area under the curve values, the combined use of SMI or VTIQ improved the diagnostic performance of classifying malignant and benign TNs compared with that of ultrasonography alone. The combination of three modalities achieved the greatest area under the curve values (0.9811, 95% confidence interval: 0.95529–1.000), followed by US + VTIQ (0.9747, 0.94543–1.000), US + SMI (0.9032, 0.85345–0.95391) and ultrasonography (0.8291, 0.76417–0.89403). © 2021 The Authors