Diagnostic value of ultrasonic shear wave elastography combined with routine ultrasound in cervical lymph node metas-tasis of thyroid cancer

WANG Honghui; TANG Maojian; ZHANG Chao

doi:10.20258/j.cnki.1006-9011.2025.08.010

Abstract：Objective To explore the diagnostic value of ultrasonic shear wave elastography combined with conventional ul-trasonography in cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.Methods A total of 233 patients with thyroid cancer were selected and divided into a group of cervical lymph node metastasis with 72 patients and a group without cervical lymph node me-tastasis with 161 patients according to histopathological findings.First,the patient underwent routine ultrasound examination to observe lesion location,number,size,calcification,envelope,internal echo,boundary,shape,blood flow,aspect ratio.The minimum value of Young's modulus(Emin),maximum value of Young's modulus(Emax)and average value of Young's modulus(Emean)were calculated.Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between conventional ultrasonic features and ul-trasonic shear wave elastic imaging parameters and cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.Receiver operating charac-teristic(ROC)curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasonic shear wave elastic imaging parameters combined with conventional ultrasonic characteristics in cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.Results The proportions of calcification,envelope invasion,irregular morphology and rich blood flow in cervical lymph node metastasis group were higher than those in the group without cervical lymph node metastasis,and the Emin,Emax and Emean were higher than those in the group without cervical lymph node metastasis,with statistical significance(all P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that calci-fication,capsule invasion,rich blood flow and Emin,Emax and Emean were risk factors for cervical lymph node metastasis of thy-roid cancer(all P<0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of Emin,Emax,Emean combined with conventional ultrasound features in the diagnosis of cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer was 0.937,the sensitivity was 86.10%,and the speci-ficity was 88.80%,all higher than that of single indexes(P<0.05).Conclusion Emin,Emax,Emean,calcification,envelope inva-sion,and abundant blood flow are risk factors for cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.Ultrasound shear wave elastic imaging combined with routine ultrasound has a high diagnostic value for cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer.