Ultrasound Real-Time Tissue Elastography Improves the Diagnostic Performance of the ACR Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System in Differentiating Malignant from Benign Thyroid Nodules: A Summary of 1525 Thyroid Nodules

Background. To explore the correlation between the ultrasound elasticity score (ES) of real-time tissue elastography (RTE) and the malignant risk stratification of the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) and to evaluate the added value of RTE to TI-RADS in differentiating malignant nodules from benign ones. Methods. A total of 1,498 patients (885 women and 613 men; mean age of 43.5 ± 12.4 years) with 1,525 confirmed thyroid nodules (D = maximum diameter, D ≤ 2.5 cm) confirmed by fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and/or surgery were included. The nodules were divided into four groups based on their sizes (D ≤ 0.5 cm, 0.5 < D ≤ 1.0 cm, 1.0 < D ≤ 2.0 cm, and 2.0 < D ≤ 2.5 cm). We assigned an ES of RTE and malignant risk stratification of the TI-RADS category to each nodule. The correlation between the ES of RTE and the malignant risk stratification of TI-RADS category was analyzed by the Spearman’s rank correlation. The diagnostic performances of RTE, TI-RADS, and their combination were compared by the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results. The ES of RTE and the malignant risk stratification of TI-RADS showed a strong correlation in the size intervals of 0.5 < D ≤ 1.0 cm, 1.0 < D ≤ 2.0 cm, and 2.0 < D ≤ 2.5 cm (r = 0.768, 0.711, and 0.743, respectively). The diagnostic performance of their combination for each size interval was always better than RTE or TI-RADS alone (for all, P<0.001). Conclusions. Overall, The ES of RTE was strongly correlated with the malignant risk stratification of TI-RADS. The diagnostic performance of the combination of RTE and TI-RADS outperformed RTE or TI-RADS alone. Therefore, RTE may be an adjunctive tool to the current TI-RADS system for differentiating malignant from benign thyroid nodules.

The effect of placental elasticity on intraoperative bleeding in pregnant women with previous cesarean section

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the efficiency of placental elasticity in predicting the amount of intraoperative bleeding via real-time tissue elastography technique.MethodsPregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy who had planned delivery via cesarean section due to the recurrent cesareans were enrolled in the research (n = 78). Elastographic measurements of placental tissues of all cases were carried out by real-time elastographic ultrasonography. It is a tissue elastography software (Esaote MyLabSeven) that uses a 8-1-MHz multifrequency AC2541 Probe.ResultsA significant relationship was found between placental elasticity and intraoperative bleeding. There was a significant correlation between alterations in the preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct) levels and placental strain ratio (SR) (P < 0.001, r: 0.831; P < 0.001, r: 0.733, respectively).ConclusionThese findings may reflect an alteration at the tissue elasticity level. We hope that the use of real-time elastographic ultrasonography technique may give an idea about the amount of bleeding during the cesarean section.

Clinical analysis on the differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal neoplasms by real-time endoscopic ultrasonography

objective: to study and analyze the effect of real-time endoscopic ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumors.Selection methods: between January 2014 and January 2015 xinyang 53 cases of digestive system cancer patients admitted in hospital, a total of 79 substantial tumor of the digestive system lesions, all patients were diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasonography real-time tissue elastography, use elastic imaging score, for patients with lesions and their surrounding structures control the elastic strain rate ratio of measure and comparison analysis.Results: compared with the malignant lesion group, the difference between the benign lesion group and the benign lesion group was statistically significant (P<0.05).The ratio of elastic strain rate in benign lesion group was lower than that in malignant lesion group (P<0.05).The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 91.14%, 94.74% and 81.82% respectively.Conclusion: endoscopic ultrasound real-time tissue elastography is effective in the differential diagnosis of digestive system tumors, and can effectively determine the benign and malignant tumors and improve the diagnostic accuracy.