• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.419-427
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• 2024

The objective of this study is to analyze and evaluate the diagnostic performance and utility of elastography and artificial intelligence program in distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid nodule. In a hospital outpatient clinic, we performed thyroid ultrasound from January 2023 to June 2024, and retrospectively analyzed 126 patients who performed elastography, S-detect, and fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) because nodules were found. The analysis of differences based on cytology results showed statistically significant differences in age, nodule size, echogenicity, nodule orientation, margins, shape, presence of calcification, posterior shadowing, K-TIRADS ultrasound interpretation, S-detect results and elasticity contrast index. The ROC curve analysis determined a cut off value for the elasticity contrast index at 2.32, with diagnostic concordance rates of 0.66 for expert interpretation, 0.49 for S-detect, and 0.67 for the elasticity contrast index, indicating superior diagnostic performance with elastography. Thus, elastography may ge used as an adjunct tool to minimize unnecessary repeat examinations and the frequency of tissue biopsies in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.