The value of shear wave elastography in diffuse thyroid disease.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to discuss the value of ultrasound-based shear wave™ elastography (SWE) in diffuse thyroid disease (DTD).

METHOD: Thyroid stiffness in 154 patients with DTD and 30 normal subjects was measured by SWE. The serum indicators of all subjects were detected.

RESULTS

The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve for DTD by SWE was 0.852. The AUROCs of SWE for differentiating chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (CAT) from Graves' disease (GD) and subacute thyroiditis (SAT) were 0.549 and 0.989, respectively. The AUROCs for distinguishing GD from SAT by SWE and the fT3/fT4 ratio were 0.975 and 0.713, respectively.

CONCLUSION

SWE aids in the diagnosis of DTD, and SWE is superior to the fT3/fT4 ratio for distinguishing GD from SAT. However, SWE was unsuitable for differentiating CAT from GD.