Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma co-exists with Hashimoto's thyroiditis: Is strain elastography still useful?

To study the performance of strain elastography in differentiating papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) combined with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), conventional ultrasound scan (US) and strain elastography (SE) were performed on 558 nodules smaller than 10 mm by one examiner before surgeries. Serum concentrations of thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab) (normal range: 0-60 U/ml) were measured. Continuous variables were analyzed by independent t test. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was applied to calculate the cut-off values of strain ratio (SR) and elastography score (ES). The comparison of AUCs is performed by Z test. 482 nodules were diagnosed as PTMC and there were 181 nodules co-existed with HT. SR measurements were lower in PTMC co-existed with HT when comparing to those without HT. (7.292±6.581 vs 11.319±13.155, p<0.000). Taking the data from all of the 558 nodules, the best cut-off of diagnosing PTMC was SR>2.58. When taking the data from 181 PTMC with HT, the best cut-off was SR>2.10. The diagnostic value of SR>2.1 were higher than ES>3, conventional US and combining US and SE (z=3.595, 4.876, 4.420, p<0.001), but cut-off of SR>2.1 did not show significant enhancement of diagnostic value compared to SR>2.58 (z=0.439, p=0.8903>0.001) in PTMC with HT. There is a negative relation between SR and titer of TPO-Ab (r=-0.650, p<0.0001). PTMC with high TPO-Ab (>1000) titer presented lower SR (5.972±4.118 vs 8.379±9.172, p=0.009). Although SR measurements were lower in nodules co-existed with HT when comparing those without HT, using a regular ES and cut-off of SR measurement would not influence the diagnosing performance. SE is still very useful for diagnosing PTMC with HT. PTMC with high TPO-Ab titer might require a lower cut-off of SR.