فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Asymptomatic subacute thyroiditis (aSAT) without inflammatory features is often difficult to distinguish from papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), even with ultrasonography. Under certain circumstances, a fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is performed, which is known to increase the patient’s physical pain. Objectives: To investigate the value of quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in discriminating aSAT from PTC nodules. Results: Compared to the PTC group, patients with aSAT had a longer ∆RT1 (RT of the control area − RT of the whole area; 0.12 ± 0.69 vs. -0.2 ± 0.57, P = 0.03) and ∆RT3 (RT of the control area − RT of the central area; 0.43 ± 0.72 vs. 0.04 ± 0.94, P = 0.049). Besides, compared to the PTC group, the aSAT group had a shorter RT in the total area (RT1: 4.05 ± 1.56 vs. 4.91 ± 2.09, P = 0.045); a shorter TTP in the total (TTP1: 4.91 ± 1.76 vs. 7.30 ± 3.92, P = 0.005), peripheral (TTP2: 5.06 ± 1.97 vs. 7.00 ± 3.48, P = 0.01), and central (TTP3: 4.90 ± 1.68 vs. 7.57 ± 4.41, P = 0.004) areas; and a lower IMAX in the peripheral area (IMAX2: 0.74 ± 0.36 vs. 1.09 ± 0.57, P = 0.009). Based on the ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve was significantly larger for TTP1 as compared to RT1 (P = 0.027). Conclusion: Conventional ultrasound and CEUS examinations were inadequate in distinguishing PTC from aSAT. Overall, a quantitative analysis may indicate more biological characteristics of nodules, which can be helpful in the differential diagnosis.