title: Differentiation of thyroid nodules using Tl-201 scintigraphy quantitative analysis and fine-needle aspiration biopsy.
abstract: We studied the differentiation of thyroid nodules using fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNA) and Tl-201 scintigraphy quantitative analysis. One-hundred and thirty-one thyroid nodules were examined: 83 follicular lesions (58 benign and 25 malignant lesions) and 48 non-follicular lesions (8 benign and 40 malignant lesions). During Tl-201 scintigraphy examinations, an early and a delayed image were acquired 10 and 120 min after an intravenous injection, respectively. The T/N ratio (counts of nodular lesion/counts of contralateral normal thyroid tissue) of each image was calculated quantitatively. We assessed the ability of the Tl-201 scintigraphy and of the FNA analysis to differentiate benign and malignant lesions and determined the cut-off levels for the assays. For the follicular lesions, the area under the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve (Az) for the Tl-201 scintigraphy data was greater than that for the FNA data. For the non-follicular lesions, the Az for the FNA data was greater than that for the Tl-201 scintigraphy data. We set cut-off levels at 1.370 for follicular lesions, and 1.070 for non-follicular lesions. The sensitivity and specificity were 76% and 82.7% for follicular lesions, and 90% and 87.5% for non-follicular lesions, respectively. The overall accuracy of the analysis was 84.0%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama 700 8558, Japan. blitzen@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mifune
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akaki
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kanazawa
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hiraki
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D013966:Thyroiditis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes