ArticleBMC endocrine disorders2022
Ultrasound grayscale ratio: a reliable parameter for differentiating between papillary thyroid microcarcinoma and micronodular goiter.
Article in BMC endocrine disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The application of grayscale quantitative analysis in the differential diagnosis of necrosis between cervical lymph node metastases in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and tuberculous lymphadenitis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- The predictive value of the ultrasound grayscale ratio for identifying malignant thyroid nodules.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- The value of ultrasound grayscale ratio in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid microcarcinomas and benign micronodules in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis: A two-center controlled study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Development of a joint diagnostic model of thyroid papillary carcinoma with artificial neural network and random forest.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
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Abstract
backgroundThe present study aimed to quantify and differentiate the echo levels of papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs) and micronodular goiters (MNGs) using the ultrasound grayscale ratio (UGSR) and to investigate the repeatability of UGSR.
methodsThe ultrasound (US) data of 241 patients with 265 PTMCs and 141 patients with 168 MNGs confirmed by surgery and pathology were retrospectively analyzed. All patients had received outpatient ultrasonic examination and preoperative ultrasonic positioning. The RADinfo radiograph reading system was used to measure the grayscales of PTMC, MNG, and thyroid tissues at the same gain level, and the UGSR values of the PTMC, MNG, and thyroid tissue were calculated. The patients were divided into outpatient examination, preoperative positioning, and mean value groups, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to obtain the optimal UGSR threshold to distinguish PTMC from MNG. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the consistency of UGSR measured in three groups.
resultsThe UGSR values of the PTMC and MNG were 0.56 ± 0.14 and 0.80 ± 0.19 (t = 5.84, P < 0.001) in the outpatient examination group, 0.55 ± 0.14 and 0.80 ± 0.19 (t = 18.74, P < 0.001) in the preoperative positioning group, and 0.56 ± 0.12 and 0.80 ± 0.18 (t = 16.49, P < 0.001) in the mean value group. The areas under the ROC curves in the three groups were 0.860, 0.856, and 0.875, respectively. When the UGSR values for the outpatient examination, preoperative positioning, and mean value groups were 0.649, 0.646, and 0.657, respectively, each group obtained its largest Youden index. A reliable UGSR value was obtained between the outpatient examination and preoperative positioning groups (ICC = 0.79, P = 0.68).
conclusionUGSR is a simple and repeatable method to distinguish PTMC from MNG, and hence, can be widely applicable.
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