Comparative evaluation of shear wave elastography elasticity values in thyroid nodules with cytology results and TI-RADS scoring in differentiation of benign–malignant nodules

Purpose The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules and their correlation with the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS).

Methods This prospective study included 370 thyroid nodules in 308 patients aged 18–70 years.

All the patients underwent B-mode ultrasound (US), Doppler examination, and SWE and were given an ACR TI-RADS risk score before fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and/or surgery.

The correlation between SWE parameters and ACR TI-RADS categories was investigated statistically and compared with histopathologic results.

Additionally, the diagnostic performance of SWE was evaluated to distinguish malignant and benign thyroid nodules.

Results One hundred and thirty-five of the 370 thyroid nodules were malignant, and 235 nodules were benign.

The mean shear wave velocity (SWV) value of the malignant nodules (3.70 ± 0.98 m/s) was statistically higher than that of the benign nodules (2.70 ± 0.37 m/s).

The best cutoff value of the mean SWV for differentiating benign and malignant nodules was found to be 2.94 m/s (sensitivity 90.4%, specificity 89.9%, positive predictive value 81.3%, negative predictive value 94.1%, p  < 0.001).

The average score of the nodules according to the ACR TI-RADS was 3.57 ± 1.83 in benign nodules and 7.38 ± 2.69 in malignant nodules ( p  ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion This study showed that combining SWE and TI-RADS improves the specificity of TI-RADS alone in differentiating benign and malignant nodules.