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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

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Published on: June 9, 2023
Computed tomography appearance of normal nonossified thyroid cartilage: implication for tumor invasion diagnosis
Nazanin Dadfar1, Mohammad Seyyedi, Reza Forghani
1From the Departments of *Radiology and †Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary; and ‡Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and §Department of Radiology, Jewish General Hospital and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to determine the density and homogeneity of the nonossified thyroid cartilage (NOTC) on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) providing preliminary information for future evaluation of cartilage invasion using dual-energy CT.
Methods:
One hundred normal-larynx CT scans were evaluated for the density and homogeneity of NOTC.
Results:
The density of the NOTC was homogeneous in all cases. Nonossified thyroid cartilage had higher mean density than contiguous muscle, but there was overlap. In 47 cases, a lucent area was observed at the junction of the ossified and NOTC but not within the NOTC itself. In 11 cases, ossification was observed in only 1 cortex of the thyroid cartilage. Cartilage at the anterior commissure was not ossified in 7 cases.
Conclusions:
Nonossified thyroid cartilage has a homogeneous appearance on contrast-enhanced CT scans, but showed some normal variations that could be mistakenly reported as tumor invasion.
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