Application of Shear Wave Sonoelastography in the Differential Diagnosis of Extra- and Intra-Thyroidal Ectopic Thymic Tissue

Journal of Clinical Medicine

Andrzej Lewiński¹  Magdalena Stasiak¹  Renata Stawerska¹  Zbigniew Adamczewski¹  Bartłomiej Stasiak² 

[1] Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Polish Mother’s Memorial Hospital—Research Institute, 281/289 Rzgowska St., 93-338 Lodz, Poland;Institute of Information Technology, Lodz University of Technology, 215 Wolczanska St., 90-924 Lodz, Poland;

关键词: ectopic thymus;    thyroid;    shear wave sonoelastography;    strain elastography;    ultrasound;    thyroid cancer;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jcm9123816

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The ultrasound (US) pattern of intrathyroidal ectopic thymus (IET) can resemble papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) while the extrathyroidal ectopic thymus (EET) can mimic pathological lymph nodes. Recently, the usefulness of strain elastography (SE) was demonstrated in the differential diagnosis, however this method has several limitations. The aim of the current study was to assess the usefulness of shear wave elastography (SWE) in this field. The US, SE, and SWE were performed in 31 children with 53 ectopic thymuses (ETs) and quantitative values of SWE parameters were calculated, so as to generate potential normative values of ET elasticity and of the shear wave ratio (SWR). The mean SWR_IET was 0.89 ± 0.21 and the mean shear wave stiffness (SWS) was 7.47 ± 1.93 kPa. The mean SWR_EET was 0.84 ± 0.15 and the mean SWS_EET was 11.28 ± 2.58 kPa. The results have proven that the stiffness of ETs is lower or equal to the thyroid’s. SWE was demonstrated to be a useful diagnostic method for ET evaluation. Therefore, the application of SWE in ET diagnosis allows more accurate evaluation of ET-like lesions and, in many cases, allows one to avoid invasive procedures, simultaneously providing a precise monitoring method based on combined US and SWE evaluation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown