Suna Ozhan Oktar MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Ruken Yuksekkaya, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Cem Yucel MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Aydan Ilkme MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hakan Ozdemir MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To asses the value of perfusion measurements in central and peripheral parts of the lesions in the differentiation of benign vs. malignant thyroid nodules, by using a novel noninvasive dynamic color Doppler sonographic perfusion measurement tool.

Twenty four patients who were referred to our department for fine needle aspiration biopsy (16 women, 8 men) were included in this study. Mean age of the patients were 49.5±16.5 years (13-78 years). All patients were evaluated with color Doppler US examination before undergoing fine needle aspiration biopsy and for each nodule color Doppler movie clips were recorded using constant Doppler parameters. Automatic perfusion intensity measurements were obtained with the aid of a special software program (Pixelflux; Chameleon-Software, Leipzig, Germany). Perfusion intensities were calculated as mean flow velocity encoded by color Doppler signals of a region of interest during one full heart cycle. Overall, peripheral and central blood flow volumes were obtained in each nodule. The mean values of perfusion amounts in benign and malignant nodules were compared statistically.

In twelve patients (50%), cytological evaluation revealed non-neoplastic nodules. In 9 of (37%) remaining 12 patients, surgery was performed because of presence of atypical cells. Five of these lesions were papillary cancer, one was medullary cancer, one was anaplastic cancer, one was follicular cancer and one was metastatic lung cancer. No statistical significance was found between overall flow volume measurements of the nodules. Comparison of perfusion intensities obtained from peripheral and central parts of the nodules revealed that, in non-neoplastic nodules the peripheral flow was more intense than the central flow and, on the contrary central flow was more prominent than the peripheral flow in neoplastic nodules (p<0.005).

Measurement of perfusion intensity in thyroid nodules can be used as a complementary parameter in the differentiation of benign vs. malignant nodules.

Color Doppler perfusion intensity measurement might be a useful tool in the evaluation and differentiation of malignant and benign thyroid nodules.

Oktar, S, Yuksekkaya, R, Yucel, C, Ilkme, A, Ozdemir, H, Quantitative Color Doppler Evaluation of Perfusion in the Differential Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Nodules Using a Dedicated Software Program.  Radiological Society of North America 2007 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2007 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2007/5008569.html