Role of color-coded virtual touch tissue imaging in suspected thyroid nodules

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Diagnostic Ultrasound
• Oncology

Background:

• Conventional ultrasound (US) is the standard for thyroid nodule surveillance.
• Accurate differentiation between benign and malignant nodules remains crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of color-coded virtual touch tissue imaging (VTI) in assessing thyroid nodule hardness.
• To determine if VTI can discriminate between benign and malignant nodules within the ACR TI-RADS TR3-5 categories.
• To investigate the diagnostic performance of VTI compared to conventional US.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study involving 211 thyroid lesions (TR3-5) in 181 patients.
• Conventional ultrasound (US) and color-coded VTI (CV) were performed.
• A multivariate logistic regression model integrated US and CV data.
• Pathological results were obtained post-surgery for all nodules.

Main Results:

• The combined US and CV regression model achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.945.
• The model demonstrated high sensitivity (94.43%) and specificity (83.12%) for detecting malignant nodules.
• The regression model significantly outperformed US and CV alone (P<0.001).
• No significant difference was found between US and CV alone (P=0.3304).

Conclusions:

• Combining conventional ultrasound with color-coded VTI enhances the diagnostic accuracy for suspected malignant thyroid nodules.
• This integrated approach is recommended for clinical practice in evaluating thyroid nodules.