title: The role of the resistive index in Hashimoto's thyroiditis: a sonographic pilot study in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The role of Doppler ultrasonography in the diagnosis of diffuse thyroid diseases is not well established. In particular, Doppler ultrasonography findings in children with Hashimoto's thyroiditis are very limited. We examined gray-scale and Doppler ultrasound findings in Hashimoto's thyroiditis in children in an attempt to understand the feasibility of future prospective controlled studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one children with newly diagnosed Hashimoto's thyroiditis were recruited in the study. The patients were euthyroid or had subclinical hypothyroidism at the time of the ultrasonography examination. According to the color Doppler scale developed by Schulz et al., thyroid glands were classified into four patterns based on visual scoring and the mean resistive index (RI), which was calculated via measurements from both lobes, and these results were compared with gray-scale findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean RI value, calculated as the mean of the RI values of both lobes obtained from each patient, was found to be 0.57 ± 0.05 (range 0.48-0.67) cm/sn. The distribution of thyroid classifications was as follows: Pattern 0, n = 7; Pattern I, n = 6; Pattern II, n = 4; and Pattern III ("thyroid inferno"), n = 4. The mean RI values in patients with normal or near-normal gray-scale findings (n = 10) and patients with more substantial gray-scale changes (n = 11) were not significantly different and were lower than the values in normal children previously presented in the literature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicated that the RI may be more sensitive than other ultrasound parameters for the diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical Faculty, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. basarsarikayamd@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Basar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarikaya
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Demirbilek
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Akata
authors.forename: Nurgun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kandemir
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D050031:Hashimoto Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*