Utility of screening asymptomatic adults with thyroid ultrasonography

Objective: In this study we aimed to determine whether thyroid USG is useful in the absence of any complaints and prominent self/family history or risk of thyroid pathology. Method: Thyroid USG results of 1198 asymptomatic adults, who had no self or family history of any thyroid pathology, were retrospectively included. In all cases USG was done by the same radiologist. Thyroid nodules were classified based on their sonographic characteristics suspicious for malignancy according to American Thyroid Association (ATA)-2015 guideline. Results: Based on ATA-2015 criteria 5% (n=61) detected nodule with high risk and 27% (n=325) detected nodule with intermediate risk for malignancy. Three percent (n=33) had nodules with low risk for malignancy based on USG findings. Conclusions: USG alone may not be a decisive screening tool for thyroid carcinoma. Personal/family history and risks may guide in which cases thyroid USG would be more reliable