A Preliminary Study of Quantitative Ultrasound for Cancer-Risk Assessment of Thyroid Nodules

Gray-scale, B-mode ultrasound (US) imaging is part of the standard clinical procedure for evaluating thyroid nodules (TNs). It is limited by its instrument- and operator-dependence and inter-observer variability. In addition, the accepted high-risk B-mode US TN features are more specific for detecting classic papillary thyroid cancer rather than the follicular variant of papillary thyroid cancer or follicular thyroid cancer. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a technique that can non-invasively assess properties of tissue microarchitecture by exploiting information contained in raw ultrasonic radiofrequency (RF) echo signals that is discarded in conventional B-mode imaging. QUS provides quantitative parameter-value estimates that are a function of the properties of US scatterers and microarchitecture of the tissue. The purpose of this preliminary study was to assess the performance of QUS parameters in evaluating benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Patients from the Thyroid Health Center at the Boston Medical Center were recruited to participate. B-mode and RF data were acquired and analyzed in 225 TNs (24 malignant and 201 benign) from 208 patients. These data were acquired either before (167 nodules) or after (58 nodules) subjects underwent fine-needle biopsy (FNB). The performance of a combination of QUS parameters (CQP) was assessed and compared with the performance of B-mode risk-stratification systems.

CQP produced an ROC AUC value of 0.857 ± 0.033 compared to a value of 0.887 ± 0.033 (p=0.327) for the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS) and 0.880 ± 0.041 (p=0.367) for the American Thyroid Association (ATA) risk-stratification system. Furthermore, using a CQP threshold of 0.263 would further reduce the number of unnecessary FNBs in 44% of TNs without missing any malignant TNs. When CQP used in combination with ACR TI-RADS, a potential additional reduction of 49 to 66% in unnecessary FNBs was demonstrated.

This preliminary study suggests that QUS may provide a method to classify TNs when used by itself or when combined with a conventional gray-scale US risk-stratification system and can potentially reduce the need to biopsy TNs.