Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2025
Author Spotlight: Integrating Ultrasound Imaging with Biochemical Markers for Thyroid Disease Diagnosis
Published on: February 9, 2024
Comparison of ultrasonography and pathology features between children and adolescents with papillary thyroid
Yue Jie1,2, Jingliang Ruan1,2, Yuechang Cai1,2
1Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Objective:
To compare the ultrasonography and pathology features between children and adolescents with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
Methods:
A total of 53 patients who were surgically diagnosed with childhood or adolescent PTC between 2017 and 2022 were included in this study. The pre-operative ultrasonography, post-operative histology, and molecular and clinical characteristics were retrospectively analyzed.
Results:
No differences were observed in composition, echogenicity, and shape using ultrasonography. Moreover, there was a significantly higher rate of extrathyroidal extension, punctate echogenic foci, and lymph node metastases in children compared to adolescents. The molecular analysis showed that BRAFV600E mutations are the most prevalent abnormality in adolescent PTC (12/20, 60.0%). However, they are less in childhood PTC (7/23, 30.4%). In addition, using next-generation sequencing, three cases with oncogenic fusion (one TRIM33-RET case, one CCDC6-RET case, and one STRN-ALK case) were identified in childhood PTC.
Conclusion:
The frequency of extrathyroidal extension, punctate echogenic foci, and lymph node metastases were higher in childhood PTC, while BRAFV600E mutations were higher in adolescent PTC.
Related Concept Videos
01:23The Thyroid Gland
The follicles have a central cavity lined by simple cuboidal to squamous epithelial cells called follicular cells. These cells produce the glycoprotein...
01:17Ultrasonography
During an ultrasonography procedure, a handheld device called...