• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.91-101
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• 1994

Nodular thyroid disease is a common clinical problem. The problem in clinical practice is to distinguish malignant or potentially malignant tumor from harmless nodules. The cases of thyroid nodule surgically managed at Department of General Surgery, Soon Chun Hyang Univ. Hospital during the period Jan. 1985 to July. 1992 were reviewed retrospectively. To assess method of distinguishing malignant from benign lesions of the thyroid gland, we reviewed 162 patients with thyroid nodule. There were 61(37.7%) malignant nodules and 101(62.3%) benign nodules. According to the review, distinguishing the benign from the malignant nodule with history, physical examination, clinical manifestation, and duration of illness was not suggested sufficiently. In ultrasonogram of 73 cases, 57.5% of nodules were solid, 20.6% were cystic, 21.9% were mixed solid and cystic. Of these, 28.5% of the operated solid lesions, 12.5% of the mixed lesions, and only 6.7% of the cystic lesions were malignant. Thyroid scanning of 82 cases revealed cold nodules in 60 patients(73.2%), of which 26 cases were malignant(36.6%) 137 patients underwent fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC), and these results were as follow: sensitiviey was 70.6%, specificity was 93.0%, false-positive rate was 14.3%, and false-negative rate was 15.8%. 41 patients underwent frozen biopsy, and the results as follow: sensitivity was 80.0%, specificity was 89.7%. Neither scintigraphy nor ultrasonogram has sufficient specificity to distinguish benign from malignant nodule. But FNAC and frozen biopsy have sufficient accuracy to differentiate benign from malignant nodule. In the benign nodules, the most common type of operation was total lobectomy (60.4%). Of the malignant nodules, total thyroidectomy with or without modified radical neck dissection was performed in 30 cases(49.2%). We conclude that the single technique used to determine the differential diagnosis of a thyroid nodule are unrealiable. It is therefore essential to combine all avaiable clinical and laboratory information.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.30-34
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• 1997

Objectives: Calcification of the thyroid nodule has been reported to have a close relationship with differentiated thyroid carcinoma, however there are limited studies on the relationship between the calcified thyroid nodule and thyroid malignancy. The authors studied the clinical significance of calcification within the thyroid nodule. Materials and Methods: There were total of 60 patients who underwent surgery for calcified thyroid nodules which were identified from plain neck X-ray, ultrasound and computed tomography during the period January 1991 to June 1996 at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of Korea University Hospital. Six patients were not included because of recurrence and previous thyroid surgery. Histopathologic and radiologic analysis was done on the remaining 54 patients. Results: Results showed that 25 of 54 cases(46%) to be malignant histopathologically. Of the 25 malignant cases, papillary carcinoma was the most common with 22 cases followed by 2 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma and I case of medullary carcinoma. Statistically high incidence of malignancy was observed when the consistency of calcified thyroid nodule was solid, shape of calcification was irregular and inhomogenous, and adhesion of calcified thyroid nodule to the regional structure was present. Conclusion: The probability that a thyroid nodule is malignant has been reported to be 3­20%. However, about half of the thyroid nodules with calcification found to be malignant on this study, calcification of the thyroid nodule can be used as a guideline for detecting thyroid malignancy.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.234-243
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• 1993

The thyroid nodules are the most common endocrine disease requiring surgical management. Up to date, various diagnostic techniques and surgical management have been developed. Authors analysed 2285 cases of thyroid nodules who were treated at Department of Surgery, Pusan National University for the duration of 10 years from January 1980 to December 1989 and the results obtained were summerized as follows: 1) Patients were composed of 1727 cases(75.8%) of benign nodule and 558 cases(24.5%) of malignant nodule. Benign nodule was prevalent in forth and fifth decade comparing with malignant nodule was sixth and fifth decade. The sexual distribution revealed female preponderance with 1:10.8 in benign nodule and 1:9.3 in malignant nodule. 2) The histopathologic classfication of benign nodule in decreasing order of frequency were follicular adenoma 1009 cases(54.8%), adenomatous goiter 573 cases(33.3%), simple cyst 65 cases(3.8%), and Hashimoto's thyroiditis 52 cases(3.0%). The malignant disease were papillary adenocarcinoma 460 cases(82.4%), follicular adenocarcinoma 69 cases(12.4%), undifferentiated carcinoma 13 cases (2.0%), and medullary carcinoma 7 cases(1.0%). 3) Fine needle aspiration cytology was performed in 1758 cases and it showed 80.5% of sensitivity, 96.5% of specificity, 19.5% of false negative and 80% of accuracy. 4) The location of nodule was 87.7%, in unilateral, 12.2% in bilateral. 5) On the radioiodine scanning, the incidence of benign nodule with cold nodule was 83.9% and the incidence of benign nodule with hot nodule was 7.5%. The incidence of thyroid carcinoma with cold nodule was 88.3% and the incidence of thyroid carcinoma with hot nodule was 4.6%. 6) Most cases of benign nodules were treated with lobectomy 82.6%, subtotal thyroidectomy 10.1% and subtotal lobectomy 3.0%. Malignant nodules were treated with lobectomy and/or isthmusectomy 37.6%, total thyroidectomy 17.7%, subtotal thyroidectomy 15.4%, and any thyroidectomy and neck dissection 13.5%. 7) Postoperative complications were developed in 3.8% of benign nodules and 13.8% of malignant nodules.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.66-69
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• 1999

Background and Objectives: It is critical to distinguish benign from malignant thyroid nodule and to select a patient for surgery. Even though the U/S study dose not make great contribution to diagnose a malignant thyroid nodule, it is widely used in the evaluation of anatomic feature of thyroid. The authors tried to estimate the efficacy of the U/S study in preoperative diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodule. Materials and Method: At the department of General Surgery of Ajou University, 75 patients who were operated after diagnosis with thyroid nodule by U/S study between July 1996 to June 1997 were retrospectively analyzed. By comparing the U/S impression that implies malignant thyroid nodule to FNAC and post-operative pathologic results ware as follows. Results: 1) Absence of cystic change, presence of internal hypoechogenicity, lobulation, calcification, thick and irregular halo, and nodule more than 4cm in diameter on U/S were considered significant statistically for the diagnosis of malignancy(Chi-square test, p<0.05) 2) Presence of internal hypoechogenicity or thick and irregular halo has the validity in Logistic regression analysis. 3) FNAC was done in 65 case. 19 case were malignant, 11 case were suspicious and 46 patients were benign (sensitivity 52.6%, specificity 87%). 4) The findings of U/S which are hypoechogenic and thick and irregular halo show 82% sensitivity and 97% specificity. In combination with the findings of FNAC that imply benign or suspicious lesions, the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity was 97%. Conclusion: This study suggest that the hypoechogenicity and thick and irregular halo on U/S are important information for the diagnosis of thyroid malignancy which were considered benign or suspicious after FNAC.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid nodules and malignant findings of thyroid nodules in 1,954 patients (654 males and 1,300 females) aged 20 years or older who underwent thyroid ultrasound from January 2018 to December 2018. Examination of the thyroid gland was performed, and fine needle aspiration cytology was performed on the thyroid nodule. As a result, 108 (16.5%) out of 654 males and 368 (28.3%) out of 1,300 females showed higher prevalence than males. The prevalence of single nodules and multiple nodules in gender and age groups was significantly higher for women and for ages (male p=.001, female p=.001). There was a significant difference in males in the nodule size (p=.001) and no significant difference in females (p=.069). Fine - needle aspiration cytology of 476 patients with nodules was diagnosed as malignant in 46 patients (9.6%). Based on pathologic results, 383 benign and 93 malignant groups were analyzed. Ultrasonographic findings were as follows single nodule (p=.000), solid(p=.004), hypoechoic (p=.000), ill-defined peripheral boundary (p=.000), and calcification (p=.000), respectively. In the diagnosis of thyroid nodule, primary ultrasonographic findings through morphological classification of the nodules may reduce indiscriminate fine needle aspiration cytology in benign and malignant nodules.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 1984

The effeciency of combined application of isotope scan and ultrasonography of thyroid was assessed in 91 patients with thyroid nodule. Malignancy rates were 35.5%, 18.8%, & 0% in solid, complex & cystic nodule group, respectively. No statistically significant co-relationship was found between isotope scan finding & ultrasonographic finding. Malignant nodules were found only in cold solid nodule group & cold complex nodule group, and rate of malignant nodule was different between them(45.8% in cold solid nodule group & 20.7% in cold complex nodule group). Difference between the rate of cystic change in benign & malignant nodule observed in our study(59.2% vs. 35.3%) was thought to explain at least partly the statistically different rate of malignant nodule in cold solid nodule & cold complex nodule group. No difference in the boundary condition, echogenicity & distribution of internal echo existed between benign nodule group &malignant nodule group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6331-6335
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• 2013

Objective:To evaluate the performance of combined quantitative analysis of thyroid blood flow and static imaging data in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules. Method: Thyroid blood flow and static imaging were performed in 165 patients with thyroid nodules. Patients were divided into a benign thyroid nodule group (BTN, n=135) and a malignant thyroid nodule group (MTN, n=30) based on the results of post-surgical pathologic examination. Carotid artery thyroid transit times (CTTT), perfusion ratio of thyroid nodule blood/thyroid blood (TNB/TB), and perfusion ratio of thyroid nodule blood/carotid artery blood (TNB/CAB) were measured using thyroid blood flow imaging. The ratios between thyroid nodule and ipsilateral submandibular gland (TN/SG) and thyroid nodule and normal thyroid tissue (TN/T) were measured from thyroid static imaging. The differences between the BTN and MTN groups were compared. Results: 1) CTTT was markedly lower in the MTN group than the BTN group, the difference being statistically significant. 2) TNB/TB and TNB/CAB were both significantly higher in MTN than BTN groups. 3) TN/T was significantly lower in MTN group than BTN group. 4) TN/SG was lower in MTN group than BTN group, but the difference was not statistically significant. 5) Using the combination of CTTT and TN/T, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 93.1%, 95.3% and 94.9% respectively for the diagnosis of MTN. Using the combination of CTTT, TNB/TB and TN/T, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy changed to 89.7%, 100%, and 98.1% respectively. 6) Correlation analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between TN/T and TNB/TB (r=-0.384, P=0.036) and TNB/CAB (r=-0.466, P=0.009) in the MTN group. Conclusion: The combination of quantitative markers from thyroid blood flow and thyroid static imaging had high specificity and accuracy in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, thus providing an important imaging diagnostic approach.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.201-207
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• 2019

This study has evaluated whether the method of using the combination of different risk group, according to K-TIRADS classification and K-TIRADS classification in thyroid ultrasonography is useful in a differential diagnosis of benign and malignant nodules. The subject was patients underwent thyroid ultrasonography and retrospective analysis were performed based on the results of fine needle aspiration cytology. A chi-square test was performed for the difference analysis of the score system in K-TIRADS and different risk group according to the benign and malignant of thyroid nodule. The optimized cut off value was determined by the K-TIRADS score and different risk group to predict malignant nodule through ROC curve analysis. In the differential verification result of K-TIRADS and different risk group, according to the classification of benign and malignant nodule group each showed significant difference statistically(p=.001). In the point classification according to K-TIRADS for the prediction of benign and malignant in ROC curve analysis showed AUC 0.786, Cut-off value>2(p=.001), and in the different risk group, it was decided as AUC 0.640, Cut-off value>2(p=.001). When discovering the nodule in thyroid ultrasound, it is considered that the K-TIRADAS which helps in identifying benign and malignant thyroid nodules, it is considered to be helpful in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules, than the classification system according to Different risk group, and when applying the classification system according to K-TIRADS, it is considered that it can reduce unnecessary fine needle aspiration cytology and could be helpful in finding the malignant nodules early.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2022

The color overlay pattern of thyroid shear wave elastography applied in this study distinguishes benign and malignant nodules based on the optimal cut-off value of 74.2 kPa. From august 2021 to september 2021, thyroid ultrasound and elastography were performed on 57 patients with thyroid lesions using an ultrasound device RS85 prestige (Samsung Medison, Korea) and a 2-14 MHz linear transducer. In addition, the results of classification by K-TIRADS for each thyroid nodule and the results of classification by color overlay pattern according to the kPa value of acoustic ultrasound were compared and analyzed. In the color overlay pattern, the results classified as 40 people from dark blue to light blue and 17 people from green to red were similar to the K-TIRADS category results, which were classified as 42 benign and 15 malignant. Between blue and light blue, benign, and between green and red, malignant. If the shear wave elastography method is applied before the fine-needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid nodule is performed, the differential diagnosis of thyroid tissue from benign and malignant can be predicted in advance, and it will help to reduce unnecessary invasive tests.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2000

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy between the FNAC and intraopevative frozen biopsy based upon the Final histologic diagnosis. Method: Authors studied 232 cases of thyroid nodule operated at Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Chosun University, from January 1992 to December 1998. The medical records of these patients were studied retrospectively. The cytology of FNAC and the frozen section was compared to the final histologic diagnosis. 232 cases were analysed in regard to correlation of FNAC diagnosis and Intraoperative frozen section with final pathology, preoperative thyroid scan, thyroid function test, ultrasonography, final histopathology of the specimens, and surgical operation methods. 174 cases who underwent FNAC for diagnosis before operation, and Intraoperative frozen-section biopsy were classified according to whether the clinical diagnosis was benign, suspicious or malignant and evaluated the specificity sensitivity and accuracy. Result: Comparing with final histopathology, FNAC as a diagnostic test for thyroid nodules demonstrated an accuracy of 81.3%, a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity 86.5% with a false positivity of 2.9%, false negativity of 4.3%, respectively. and Intra-operative frozen section demonstrated an accuracy of 86.8%, a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity 92.1%. In the benign lesion, there was no difference in accuracy between FNAC(95.6%) and frozen section(95.1%) but, in the suspicious malignant lesion, frozen section(46.2%) was superior to FNAC(32.0%), and in the malignant disease, FNAC(97.1%) was superior to frozen section(92.3%). Conclusion: Intraoperative frozen section biopsy is useful in patients undergoing surgery for a thyroid nodule with a 'suspicious' malignant lesion and could reduce inadequate extensive excision without missing malignancy and second operation and help to determine the resection margin. It adds no information in patients with a diagnosis of malignancy following FNAC assessment and is of limited use in those in whom a benign lesion is diagnosed.