Diagnostic Value of Color Doppler Ultrasonography in Detecting Calcifications in Thyroid Nodules for Benign and Malignant Nodules

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of color Doppler ultrasonography in detecting calcifications in thyroid nodules for benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods: This study selects 108 patients with thyroid nodules who underwent color Doppler ultrasonography at designated hospitals from June 2013 to June 2018 as study subjects, retrospectively analyzes their general patient data, preoperative color Doppler ultrasound data and postoperative pathological diagnosis results, and discusses the diagnostic value of calcification rate, calcification type and calcification characteristics for benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Results: The results show that preoperative color Doppler ultrasonography found 112 thyroid nodules in 108 patients, including 72 benign nodules and 40 malignant nodules; pathological analysis confirmed 124 thyroid nodules, including 78 benign nodules and 46 malignant nodules; the diagnostic coincidence rate of color Doppler ultrasound is 90.32% (112/124), the misdiagnosis rate is 9.68% (12/124), the specificity is 86.94%, and the sensitivity is 81.27%; in these 112 thyroid nodules, 89 nodules were calcified accounting for 79.46%; in 72 benign nodules, 13 nodules were calcified accounting for 18.06%; in 40 malignant nodules, 17 were calcified accounting for 42.50%; the calcification of malignant nodules was significantly higher than that of benign nodules; in 72 benign nodules, 6 cases is coarse calcification accounting for 8.33%, 3 cases is cyclic calcification accounting for 4.16%, and cyclic and coarse calcification are only 23.46% sensitive to thyroid cancer; in 40 malignant nodules, 3 cases is coarse calcification accounting for 7.5%, and 2 cases is cyclic calcification accounting for 5.00%. Conclusions: According to the analysis, the calcification in thyroid nodules has relatively high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of benign and malignant nodules and it can be used as a specific index for screening thyroid cancer.