[Echographic Aspects Suspicious Of Malignity Of Thyroid Nodule]

Thyroid nodules are distressing pathology because of the fear of malignant tumor. It is a common condition but often overlooked by patients. Surgery has an essential place in the treatment, but its performance is correlated with ultrasound data. The objective was to report the probable malignant characteristics of thyroid nodules through ultrasound analysis.

This was a descriptive and analytical retrospective study over a period of 6 years, carried out in the department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Cervico-Facial Surgery of the Hospital Center of Soavinandriana Antananarivo Madagascar. Were included, patients with a cervical ultrasound result preceding the thyroidectomy and an anatomopathologic result of the surgical specimen. The parameters studied were the epidemiological profiles, the clinical data, the ultrasound data, the biological assessments and the anatomopathological results.

We listed 150 patients whose mean age was 46.56 years and a sex ratio of 0,11. The malignant thyroid nodule was found in 17 patients or 11,33% of cases. The significant ultrasound aspectsin favor of a malignant thyroid nodule were respectively: poorly limited character [p=0.0002], hypoechoic appearance [p=0.0087], hypervascularization [p=0.0094]. The other moderately suspicious ultrasound characters were represented by the presence of tiny calcification [p=0.2185], the existence of satellite cervical adenopathy [p=0.1982] and peripheral halo [p=0.4502]. The histological type of malignant nodule was dominated by papillary carcinoma (58.82%) and gallbladder carcinoma (23.52%). The ultrasound and pathological concordance was 62.66% of cases.

The precise description of a thyroid nodule provided by ultrasound is essential in the management of a nodular goiter.