Purpose: To investigate new possibilities of differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid goiter lesions by means of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (EDRFA).
Material and methods: In the samples of thyroid tissue taken from people with intact thyroid gland (mostly died from trauma, n = 92), as well as in patients with nodular goiter (n = 79) and thyroid cancer (n = 40) bromine (Br), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), iodine (I), rubidium (Rb) and strontium (Sr) were investigated. To determine these elements, the methods of EDRPA have been developed using encapsulated sources with 109Cd and 241Am radionuclides for fluorescence excitation.
Results: It is shown that the levels of the content of I, the ratios I / Cu and I / Rb, as well as the products of the ratios I / Cu ∙ (I / Rb) and (I / Br) ∙ (I / Cu) ∙ (I / Rb ) are highly informative markers of thyroid cancer. The accuracy of the developed methods and the reliability of the results obtained were confirmed by measurements of international certified comparison materials.
Conclusion: The use of the proposed markers allows in vitro to differentiat thyroid cancer from benign nodes and normal tissue with sensitivity in the range of 86–100 %, specificity of 89–99 %, and accuracy within 90–99 %.