Ultrasonographic shear wave elastography of the thyroid in patients with sickle cell anemia

Although thyroid radiology has been conducted in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA), to our knowledge, there is no report of thyroid gland assessment using ultrasonographic shear wave elastography (US-SWE).

To determine values for ultrasonographic US-SWE of the thyroid in patients with SCA and correlations between thyroid elasticity and biochemical variables used to evaluate thyroid function.

Prospective case-control observational study of 36 patients with SCA and 33 healthy volunteer controls. US-SWE measurements of thyroid gland parenchyma and biochemical parameters of the participants were obtained and compared, and the diagnostic accuracy of elasticity was determined.

The thyroid volume was smaller in patients with SCA than that in controls (P = 0.001). Compared with the controls, the patients with SCA had significantly lower serum levels of free triiodothyronine (fT3) (P = 0.004) and thyroglobulin (Tg) (P = 0.001) and significantly higher levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (P = 0.028). Thyroid stiffness was significantly higher in the left lobe (LL) of the patients with SCA than in the controls (P = 0.003). In the patients with SCA, we found a significant correlation between right lobe (RL) and LL stiffness and serum levels of Tg (RL [r = -0.439] and LL [r = -0.484]; P = 0.021) and fT3 (RL [r = -0.463] and LL [r = -0.386]; P = 0.012). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of thyroid elasticity that represented a diagnosis of SCA found a cutoff of >7.31 kPa, a sensitivity of 52.0%, and a specificity of 72.0% for the RL (P = 0.316, area under the curve [AUC] 0.570), and a cutoff of >8.06 kPa, a sensitivity of 58.0%, and a specificity of 84.0% for the LL (P = 0.011, AUC 0.680).

US-SWE can be used to follow up thyroid changes in patients with SCA.