title: Shear Wave Velocity: A New Quantitative Index to Estimate the Status of Thyroid in Diffuse Thyroid Disease.
abstract: Objective. The purpose of the study was to assess the application value of VTQ in DTD. Research Design and Methods. Thirty healthy subjects and 74 DTD patients were involved. The thyroid stiffness, which was expressed by SWV, was measured by VTQ and compared between the patients and healthy people. The relationship between SWV and thyroid serological indexes was also analyzed. Results. The thyroid SWVs of DTD patients were higher than those of the healthy (2.56 ± 1.33 m/s versus 1.74 ± 0.16 m/s, P = 0.011). There was no significant difference between the thyroid SWVs in GD and HT patients (P = 0.168). The SWVs in patients with GD and HT were both higher than those of the healthy (P < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve was 0.938 for SWV to distinguish between DTD and healthy thyroid. With a cutoff value of 2.02 m/s, the sensitivity and specificity were 81.12% and 100.00%, respectively. Additionally, we found a positive liner correlation between thyroid SWV and TSH in DTD patients (P < 0.001). Conclusion. SWV is a good indicator of the thyroid tissue stiffness, which might be considered helpful in screening DTD. What is more, SWV might have a potential in assessing the thyroid function.
authors.affiliation: In-Patient Ultrasound Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China.
authors.forename: Lin-Yao
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: In-Patient Ultrasound Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China.
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: In-Patient Ultrasound Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Juan
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: In-Patient Ultrasound Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: In-Patient Ultrasound Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150086, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhou