title: Usefulness of ultrasonography is the evaluation of thyroid nodules.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the diagnostic capacity of ultrasonography (US) for differentiating between malignant and benign thyroid nodules and its usefulness in obviating unnecessary invasive procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2012 through December 2014, a total of 321 fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) procedures were done in 302 patients selected according to the criteria recommended by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology guidelines and the American Thyroid Association guidelines. We analyzed the following characteristics on US: location, size, morphology, contour, consistency, echostructure, echogenicity, calcifications, and vascularization. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to investigate the relationship between the US findings and thyroid cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of malignancy in our study population was 5.92%. The US findings that were significantly associated with a greater probability of malignancy were microcalcifications, central vascularization, and hypoechogenicity. The US findings that were associated with a lower risk of malignancy were areas of colloid degeneration and nodule heterogeneity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that decisions about whether to perform FNAB should be based on the presence of suspicious US findings found with our statistic model rather than on the size of the nodule. Thus, unnecessary FNAB procedures on nodules without suspicious US characteristics can be avoided.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico, Centro Médico de Especialidades Ramón y Cajal, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, España. Electronic address: caroluliaque@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franco Uliaque
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico, Centro Médico de Especialidades Ramón y Cajal, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Pardo Berdún
authors.affiliation: Centro Universitario de la Defensa, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laborda Herrero
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico, Centro Médico de Especialidades Ramón y Cajal, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: Carmen Pérez
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Lórenz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Biopsia; Biopsy; Ecografía; Nódulo tiroideo; Thyroid nodule; Ultrasonography