Elastography for the evaluation of thyroid nodules in pediatric patients

A elastografia na avaliação de nódulos tireoidianos em pacientes pediátricos

Abstract

Objective:  To evaluate the usefulness of elastography (using manual compression) as an additional diagnostic tool for children and adolescents with thyroid nodules.

Materials and Methods:  This was a prospective study conducted between September 2012 and August 2013 at a hospital in Brazil. We performed elastography, ultrasound, and fine-needle aspiration biopsy in 32 patients between 6 and 18 years of age who had, in total, 38 thyroid nodules.

Results:  The elastography findings correlated with the histopathological diagnosis in 78.5% of cases. In three patients, an unnecessary thyroidectomy could have been avoided if the elastography results had been prioritized. Only one malignant thyroid nodule was found to show high elasticity.

Conclusion:  Our results suggest that high elasticity of a nodule on elastography is associated with a low risk of thyroid cancer. If further confirmed in other studies, elastography may prove useful as a complementary test for screening thyroid nodules in children.

Keywords:
Thyroid neoplasms; Child; Thyroid nodule/diagnostic imaging; Elasticity imaging techniques; Ultrasonography