Evaluation of the role of ultrasound elastography in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid lesions by using curves of receiver operating characteristic
应用ROC曲线评价超声弹性成像在甲状腺良恶性结节鉴别诊断中的应用价值

Objective To evaluate the role of ultrasound elastography （UE） and the cut-off value in differentiating benign and malignant lesions in the thyroid. Methods The elastograms of 81 thyroid lesions in 61 patients were retrospectively analyzed and curves of receiver operating characteristic（ROC） were used to assess the role of ultrasound elastography（UE） in differentiating benign and malignant lesions of the thyroid and the cut-off value was chosen. Results There were significant differences in the elastographic scores between benign and malignant lesions. Malignant lesions had a higher score than benign ones. The area under ROC curve was 0.876. If the cut-off value of the elastographic scores was equal to or more than 3, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy was 86.7% ,81.8% ,79.0% respectively. Conclusions UE is helpful for differentiating benign and malignant lesions of thyroid with high value.