title: Interpretation of thyroid glands in a group of healthy children: real-time ultrasonography elastography study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to determine the strain index (SI) of normal thyroid parenchyma in a group of healthy children, using ultrasound elastography (USE).
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants consisted of 54 healthy children. The USE of the normal thyroid parenchyma was performed by using the Hitachi Hi VisionPreirus model ultrasonography (US) device. By following sinusoidal waves at the base of the screen, regular and slight compressions and decompressions were made by the transducer. After the regular sinusoidal waves were acquired, standard region of interest (ROI) circles were used to measure the SI values of the thyroid glands by placing one ROI on a superficial part of the normal thyroid gland parenchyma and the other on the adjacent soft tissue at the same depth (within 10-mm proximity). Three measurements were obtained for each (right and left) thyroid gland, and the mean value was used for statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean SI value of normal thyroid glands was 0.54±0.38 for the whole group. There was no statistically significant difference between girls and boys on the basis of age, weight, height, BMI (body mass index), and thyroid SI values (p=0.15, p=0.18, p=0.12, p=0.31, and p=0.96, respectively). No correlation was found between thyroid gland SI values and each of the following variables: age (r=0.22, p=0.15), gender (r=0.007, p=0.96), and BMI (r=0.26, p=0.09).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study determined the normal elasticity values of thyroid glands in healthy children. Such information can serve as a baseline from which thyroid diseases can be examined.
authors.forename: Nursel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yurttutan
authors.forename: Gulay
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gungor
authors.forename: Nagihan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.forename: Betul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kizildag
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baykara
authors.forename: Mehmet Akif
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sarica
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*