Abstract:
Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Strain Elastography in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid
nodules taking fine needle aspiration cytology as gold standard.
Study Design and Setting: It was a cross sectional study conducted at Radiology department of Jinnah Postgraduate
Medical Centre, Karachi from May 2019 to June 2020
Methodology: Total 586 patients with complaints of swelling in region of thyroid gland were enrolled in study on which
Strain Elastography was performed using linear transducer with ultrasound frequency of 7.5 MHz. The results of strain
Elastography were compared with histopathology. All the information was recorded into predesigned proforma. Chi-square
test was used for comparison among categorical variables and when it has not worked then imitation of Monte Carlos was
applied and to see agreement among various categorical variables Kappa statistics were performed. Level of statistical
significance was accepted as P < 0.05.
Results: The sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 80.2%, positive predictive value of 61.7%, negative predictive value of
100%, and diagnostic accuracy of 85% of elastography was calculated in differentiation among benign from malignant
thyroid nodules.
Conclusion: Strain elastography is noninvasive technique which can be used to characterize thyroid nodules and helps in
differentiating benign from malignant thyroid nodules and can limit the utilization of invasive technique like FNAC and
helps in selection of patients which needs surgery
