Serum thyroglobulin adds no additional value to ultrasonographic features in a thyroid malignancy

We investigated the adjunctive role of preoperative serum thyroglobulin (Tg) in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules. A retrospective study was performed on 374 thyroid nodules (363 benign and 11 malignant) in 360 patients (296 women and 64 men; mean age, 50.1 years; range, 16-86 years) between December 2010 and July 2011. We evaluated clinicopathologic characteristics of patients and ultrasonographic (US) features of the lesions including presurgical Tg levels. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to determine independent predictors of malignancy. Serum Tg was positively correlated with nodule size and thyroid volume (P < 0.001). There was no difference in serum Tg levels between malignant and benign nodules. Suspicious US features of thyroid nodules were the only independent predictors of malignancy (P< 0.001). Preoperative serum Tg was not useful in differentiating thyroid cancer from benign nodules. Suspicious US features were the only predicting factors for malignancy.