Determining the Thyroid Gland Volume Causing Tracheal Compression: A Semiautomated 3D CT Volumetry Study

Area of Science:

• Radiology and Imaging
• Endocrinology
• Anatomy

Background:

• Increased thyroid gland volume (TV) can cause tracheal compression, leading to respiratory distress.
• Objective assessment of TV's impact on tracheal compression is crucial, independent of patient symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between thyroid gland volume and tracheal compression severity.
• To identify cut-off thyroid gland volumes predicting specific degrees of tracheal narrowing using CT scans.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 163 contrast-enhanced head and neck CT scans.
• Semiautomated three-dimensional volumetry (S3DV) used for thyroid gland volume measurement.
• Tracheal compression ratio (TCR) calculated to quantify tracheal narrowing.

Main Results:

• A significant positive correlation was found between thyroid gland volume and tracheal compression (p < 0.001).
• Patients with >15% tracheal compression had significantly higher TV values (p < 0.001).
• Cut-off TVs for 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% tracheal narrowing were determined as 19.75 mL, 21.56 mL, 24.54 mL, and 30.29 mL, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Larger thyroid glands objectively cause more severe tracheal compression.
• These findings can assist in surgical decision-making for thyroidectomies due to compression symptoms.