Combining real-time elastography with fine-needle aspiration biopsy to identify malignant thyroid nodules

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of real-time elastography (RTE) combined with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy in identifying malignant thyroid nodules. METHODS: This was a single-centre, retrospective study and involved patients who had underogone partial or total thyroidectomy from 01 January 2014 to 31 December 2018 at our centre. Eligible patients were at least18 years of age, had reliable grayscale ultrasound imaging results, a RTE evaluation and had undergone a FNA biopsy. RESULTS: Data were available from 437 patients. A high RTE score was a significant independent risk factors for malignancy. RTE plus FNA biopsy increased diagnostic accuracy compared with either method alone and the sensitivity and specificity of the combined model were 86% and 78%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of RTE imaging with FNA biopsy improves the diagnostic performance in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules.