scholarly journals Serum WNT-induced secreted protein 1 level as a potential biomarker for thyroid nodules

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-233
Author(s):  
Gulhan Duman ◽  
Baris Sariakcali

Background. Thyroid nodule (TN) is a common thyroid disease worldwide, and it has increased significantly last decades. Most TNs are usually incidental findings of asymptomatic, benign lesions discovered by imaging modalities performed for reasons unrelated to thyroid diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of serum WNT-induced secreted protein 1 (WISP1) level as a supporting biomarker to perform differential diagnosis of benign and non-benign thyroid nodules. Materials and methods. The study was completed with the 89 patients undergone fine needle aspiration biopsy and 43 controls. The patients were composed of 96 (72.7 %) females and 36 (27.3 %) males. And they were divided into 2 group according to the Bethesda cytological evaluation as Benign (Bethesda 2) and Non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) groups. Their serum WISP1 levels were measured by an ELISA method. Results. There were 58 (43.9 %) patients in Benign (Bethesda 2) and 31 (23.5 %) in non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) groups. In the contrary nodule size was bigger in the Non-benign group than that benign group (p = 0.006). The serum WISP1 level in the Benign (Bethesda 2) group was significantly higher than that in the and Non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) group, and controls (p < 0). The difference between benign and non-benign group accordingly to their echogenicitiy was significant (p < 0.05). In benign group there was 76.9 % mixed echoic nodules, 76.7 % isoechoic nodules 68.4 % isohypoechoic nodules and 35.7 % hypoechoic nodules. In the non-benign group, the highest hypoechoic echo (64.3 %), the least mixed echo (23.1 %), while in the benign group, the most mixed echo (76.9 %), the least hypoechoic echo (35.7 %) was present. There was no relation between WISP1 levels and echogenicity with Kruskal-Wallis H test. Conclusions. According to the preliminary results of current study, addition of serum WISP1 measurement to the differential diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules patients may provide supportive information. In thyroid nodules patients with Benign (Bethesda 2) category of cytological evaluation, a higher level of serum WISP1 may support cytological diagnosis.

2020 ◽  
Vol 183 (1) ◽  
pp. G41-G48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Vrachimis ◽  
Ioannis Iakovou ◽  
Evanthia Giannoula ◽  
Luca Giovanella

Most patients with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer (TC) referred for diagnostic work-up and treatment are not considered at higher risk of infection from SARS-CoV-2 compared to the general population. On the other hand, healthcare resources should be spared to the maximum extent possible during a pandemic. Indeed, while thyroid nodules are very common, only a small percentage are cancerous and, in turn, most thyroid cancers are indolent in nature. Accordingly, diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules, thyroid surgery for either benign or malignant thyroid nodules and radioiodine treatment for differentiated thyroid cancers may be safely postponed during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Appropriate patient counselling, however, is mandatory and red flags should be carefully identified prompting immediate evaluation and treatment as appropriate. For these selected cases diagnostic work-up (e.g. ultrasound, scintigraphy, fine-needle aspiration), surgery and radioiodine therapy may proceed despite the threat of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19, after an individual risk-benefit analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manijeh Mohammadi ◽  
Carrie Betel ◽  
Kirsteen Rennie Burton ◽  
Kevin McLughlin Higgins ◽  
Zeina Ghorab ◽  
...  

Objective To determine the incidence of malignancy, follow-up ultrasound (US), and repeat fine needle aspiration (FNA) in thyroid nodules that have been previously biopsied as benign. Methods This is a retrospective, descriptive study of benign thyroid nodules evaluated by US between 2010-2011. We determined the frequency of follow-up ultrasounds and FNAs, mean years of follow-up, interval between follow-up US, change in nodule size, reasons for repeat FNA (rFNA), frequency of thyroidectomy, and thyroid malignancy during 5 years of follow-up. Results A total of 733 benign thyroid nodules were reviewed in 615 patients. Mean years of US follow-up was 3.47 ± 1.65 years; 275 (37.5%) had no follow-up US; 109 (14.9%) had 1 follow-up US; 93 (12.7%) had 2 follow-up US; and 256 (34.9%) had 3 or more follow-up US. Assessment of thyroid nodule size showed that 215 (28.8%) nodules decreased in size, 145 (19.4%) increased in size by less than 50%, and 91 (12.1%) increased in size by more than 50%. Of the 733 nodules, 17 nodules (2.3%) underwent thyroidectomy for which the pathology result of 9 (1.2%) showed malignancy, and 65 (8.9%) thyroid nodules underwent rFNA. When applying the 2015 recommendations for repeat FNA, 35% were done unnecessarily. Conclusion In our sample of initially benign thyroid nodules, only 9 patients (1.2%) had pathology-proven malignancy after a mean follow-up of 3.5 years. Over 30% of patients had more than 3 rUSs. Decreased interval and frequency of rUS should be considered in future guidelines for thyroid management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ahmed K. Aly ◽  
Mahmoud A. Ali ◽  
Apoorva Sharma ◽  
Michael A. Gubbels ◽  
Xing Zhao ◽  
...  

Introduction: Thyroid nodules are very common. Many are detected incidentally due to increased head and neck imaging. The majority are benign; however, malignancy can’t be excluded in many cases and tissue sampling is needed. Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration is an easy and effective way to sample g thyroid nodules. Inadequate sampling was reported in 10-40% of the cases. Rapid On-site Evaluation (ROSE) was proposed to assess obtained sample for adequacy. The aim of this study is to identify the benefit of applying ROSE with US-FNA of thyroid nodules within our institution. Materials and methods: Patients who underwent FNA for thyroid nodules with ROSE availability documented in their procedure note between January 2017 to December 2018 were retrospectively included. All procedures were done by experienced radiologists. Aspirated material was Diff Quik stained for immediate evaluation. The final cytological diagnosis and specimen adequacy was based on The Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology. Specimen adequacy was compared between ROSE and non-ROSE groups. Results: 442 thyroid nodules were biopsied. ROSE was available for 65 nodules. Non-diagnostic rate with ROSE was 10.8% compared to 13.8% without ROSE with the difference being statistically insignificant. ROSE availability improved sample adequacy of nodules less than 3 cm with statistically significant difference of 100.0% with ROSE vs. 87% without ROSE. Conclusion: The current study does not justify the routine use of ROSE. However, ROSE availability is beneficial with smaller sized thyroid nodules and less experienced radiologists performing the procedure. Doi: 10.28991/SciMedJ-2021-0301-1 Full Text: PDF


Endocrine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Palladino ◽  
Ilaria Migliatico ◽  
Roberta Sgariglia ◽  
Mariantonia Nacchio ◽  
Antonino Iaccarino ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose Nowadays, the clinical management of thyroid nodules needs to be multi-disciplinary. In particular, the crosstalk between endocrinologists and cytopathologists is key. When FNAs are properly requested by endocrinologists for nodules characterised by relevant clinical and ultrasound features, cytopathologists play a pivotal role in the diagnostic work-up. Conversely, improper FNA requests can lead to questionable diagnostic efficiency. Recently, recommendations to delay all non-urgent diagnostic procedures, such as thyroid FNAs, to contain the spread of COVID-19 infection, have made the interplay between endocrinologists and cytopathologists even more essential. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our practice by evaluating the total number of FNAs performed and the distribution of the Bethesda Categories before, during, and after the lockdown. Methods We analysed the FNA trends before (1st January 2019 to March 13th 2020), during (March 14th to May 15th), and after (May 16th to July 7th) the lockdown. Results Although the total number of weekly FNAs dropped from 62.1 to 23.1, our referring endocrinologists managed to prioritise patients with high-risk nodules. In fact, in the post-lockdown, the weekly proportion of benign diagnoses dropped on average by 12% and that of high-risk diagnoses increased by 6%. Conclusions The lesson we have learned so far from this pandemic is that by applying safety protocols to avoid contagion and by increasing the threshold for FNA requests for thyroid nodules, we can continue to guarantee our services to high-risk patients even in times of a health crisis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Hu ◽  
Xiao Liu ◽  
Chong Pei ◽  
Li Xie ◽  
Nianan He

Objective: We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of perinodular stiffness, four risk stratification systems (RSSs) (KWAK-TIRADS, ACR-TIRADS, EU-TIRADS, and C-TIRADS), and the combination of perinodular stiffness and these four RSSs in differentiating malignant from benign thyroid nodules (TNs). Methods: A total of 788 TNs in 726 patients were examined with conventional ultrasound (US) examination and sound touch elastography (STE). All TNs were classified by each of the four RSSs. The stiffness inside (E) the TNs was measured by STE. The stiffness of the 2.0mm perinodular region (Eshell) was measured with the Shell measurement function of STE. The diagnostic performances of four RSSs, the E values, and the Eshell values were evaluated. All TNs were further divided into subgroups based on size (≤ 10 mm group and > 10 mm group). Results: Ninety-six TNs were classified as benign and 692 as malignant. Among the single-method approaches, ACR-TIRADS showed the highest AUC (0.77) for differentiating malignant from benign TNs for all TNs included. Eshell showed the highest AUC (0.75) in differentiating malignant from benign TNs for TNs with sizes ≤ 10 mm, and there were no significant differences in AUC among all single methods for diagnosis of TNs with sizes > 10 mm (P > 0.05). The combination of C-TIRADS and Eshell/E yielded the highest AUC for all TNs (0.83) and for TNs with size ≤ 10 mm (0.85) compared with other combinations. Conclusions: Eshell/E combined with conventional US improves the diagnostic accuracy in TNs, and may reduce unnecessary fine needle aspiration.


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