Influence of sex, age and thyroid function indices on dual-energy computed tomography-derived quantitative parameters of thyroid in patients with or without Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

PURPOSE: To study the influence of sex, age and thyroid function indices on dual-energy computed tomography (DECT)-derived quantitative parameters of thyroid in patients with or without Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 198 consecutive patients who underwent DECT scan of neck due to unilateral thyroid lesions were retrospectively enrolled. Iodine concentration (IC), total iodine content (TIC) and volume of normal thyroid lobe were calculated. Influences of sex, age and thyroid function indices on DECT-derived parameters in overall study population, subgroup patients with, and those without HT were assessed using Mann–Whitney U test, Student’s T-test, and Spearman correlation analyses, respectively, as appropriate. RESULTS: HT group showed significantly lower IC and TIC, while higher volume than No-HT group (all p < 0.001). The volume was larger in male than that in female in overall study population and No-HT group (p = 0.047 and 0.010, respectively). There was no significant difference in any DECT-derived parameters between low (≤ 35 years) and high (> 35 years) age group in all three groups (all p > 0.05). TPOAb and TgAb correlated positively with IC and TIC, and negatively with volume in overall study population (all p < 0.05). TPOAb and TgAb also correlated positively with IC in HT group (p = 0.002 and 0.007, respectively). CONCLUSION: DECT-derived parameters of thyroid differed significantly between patients with and without HT. Sex and thyroid function indices could affect the DECT-derived parameters. Aforementioned physiological factors should be considered when analyzing the DECT-derived parameters of thyroid.