OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study is to determine if crawling wave elastography, a novel sonoelastography technique, can be used to provide quantitative measurements of thyroid tissue shear velocity (a measure of tissue stiffness) and distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

STUDY DESIGN:

Diagnostic test assessment.

SETTING:

Academic university.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS:

Fresh thyroid specimens (n = 20) with 44 regions of interest were imaged ex vivo with crawling wave sonoelastography over a 9-month period in 2010 at a single institution. Using the sonoelastography technique, shear velocity estimations and contrast-to-noise ratios were calculated. The higher the shear velocity (SV) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), the greater the tissue stiffness. Histological diagnosis was correlated with shear velocity and contrast-to-noise ratio values.

RESULTS:

Both the shear velocity and contrast-to-noise values of papillary thyroid carcinoma (n = 10, CNR = 5.29, SV = 2.45 m/s) were significantly higher than benign nodules (n = 22, CNR = -0.41, SV = 1.90 m/s). There is a maximum sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 90.9%, respectively, for differentiating papillary thyroid carcinoma from benign nodules using contrast-to-noise ratio values. There is a maximum sensitivity and specificity of 83.3% and 72.7%, respectively, for differentiating papillary thyroid carcinoma from benign nodules using shear velocity values. Insufficient samples were obtained for comparison with other histological types.

CONCLUSION:

Crawling wave sonoelastography can provide quantitative estimations of shear velocity, thereby depicting the elastic properties of thyroid nodules. The shear velocity and contrast-to-noise ratio can differentiate between benign thyroid nodules and papillary thyroid carcinoma with high specificity and sensitivity.