Application of virtual touch tissue image quantification technique in the diagnosis of cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma

作者：Zhou, Lijie; Quan, Lijuan; Zhu, Wenjun; Ni, Jianqi^*

来源：International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 2017, 10(12): 16548-16554.

• Virtual touch tissue image quantification
• lymph nodes
• ultrasound
• papillary thyroid carcinoma

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the application value of the virtual touch tissue image quantification VTIQ) technique in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Methods: Data of B ultrasound and VTIQ values of 105 cervical lymph nodes with a definite thyroid papillary carcinoma history were retrospectively analyzed. Lymph nodes were examined by conventional ultrasound primarily. Then, the shear wave velocity (SWV) values inside the lymph nodes were obtained under VTIQ mode. Effective measuring regions of SWV were needed at the first step of VTIQ mass mode, and repeated SWV measurements were performed under the VTIQ velocity mode in effective region to obtain the mean value, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) for the sensitivity and specificity was applied to determine the optimal diagnostic threshold. Results: 31 benign and 74 malignant specimens were found in 105 cervical lymphoid tissues. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in gravel calcification, mean SWV, aspect ratio > 2, and blood supply between benign and malignant nodes (P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in location, size (diameter), age, and gender (P > 0.05). Multivariate analysis confirmed that gravel calcification and mean SWV were risk factors (P < 0.05). According to ROC curve, the detection limit of mean SWV was 2.695 m/s. Conclusions: VTIQ technique, by applying SWV, has an important application value in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.

• 出版日期2017
• 单位嘉兴学院