Evaluation of Thyroid Nodules by Shear Wave Elastography: a Review of Current Knowledge

Overview

Journal J Endocrinol Invest

Publisher Springer

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2021 Apr 17

PMID 33864241

Citations 22

Authors

K Z Swan

V E Nielsen

S J Bonnema

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: Shear wave elastography (SWE), as a tool for diagnosing thyroid malignancy, has gathered considerable attention during the past decade. Diverging results exist regarding the diagnostic performance of thyroid SWE.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review of thyroid SWE was conducted using the terms "Thyroid" and "shear wave elastography" in PubMed.

Results: The majority of studies found SWE promising for differentiating malignant and benign thyroid nodules on a group level, whereas results are less convincing on the individual level due to huge overlap in elasticity indices. Further, there is lack of consensus on the optimum outcome reflecting nodule elasticity and the cut-off point predicting thyroid malignancy. While heterogeneity between studies hinders a clinically meaningful meta-analysis, the results are discussed in a clinical perspective with regard to applicability in clinical practice as well as methodological advantages and pitfalls of this technology.

Conclusion: Technological as well as biological hindrances seem to exist for SWE to be clinically reliable in assessing benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Structural heterogeneity of thyroid nodules in combination with operator-dependent factors such as pre-compression and selection of scanning plane are likely explanations for these findings. Standardization and consensus on the SWE acquisition process applied in future studies are needed for SWE to be considered a clinically reliable diagnostic tool for detection of thyroid cancer.

Citing Articles

Role of Ultrasound Elastography and Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) in Diagnosis and Management of Malignant Thyroid Nodules-An Update.

Solomon C, Petea-Balea D, Dudea S, Bene I, Silaghi C, Lenghel M Diagnostics (Basel). 2025; 15(5).

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Application of shear wave elastography in the management of thyroid nodules in children and adolescents: our experience and a review of the literature.

Borysewicz-Sanczyk H, Bossowski F, Anikiej K, Sawicka B, Michalak J, Dzieciol J Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024; 15:1486285.

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A new LNC89/LNC60-Col11a2 axis revealed by whole-transcriptome analysis may be associated with goiters related to excess iodine nutrition.

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Thyroid Nodule Characterization: Overview and State of the Art of Diagnosis with Recent Developments, from Imaging to Molecular Diagnosis and Artificial Intelligence.

David E, Grazhdani H, Tattaresu G, Pittari A, Foti P, Palmucci S Biomedicines. 2024; 12(8).

PMID: 39200141 PMC: 11351886. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines12081676.

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