Value of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound and Conventional Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma with Cervical Lymph Node Metastases.

Objective To compare the ultrasound features of papillary thyroid carcinoma with or without cervical lymph node metastasis (LNM). Methods Patients suspected of thyroid cancer underwent the conventional ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examinations. Patients' age,sex,and ultrasound characteristics of lesions were recorded. With the surgical pathology as the golden standard,the ultrasound features were compared between the cervical LNM group and non-LNM group. Results Of 144 patients,51 had cervical LNM and 93 did not. Patients' ages,sex and number of lesions had no significant difference between two groups (all P>0.05). Tumor with LNM had maximum size greater than 0.85 cm,ill-defined margin (P=0.000),irregular shape (P=0.007),internal heterogeneous echogenicity (P=0.007),microcalcification (P=0.020),internal heterogeneous low-enhancement (P=0.002),peripheral non-enhancement ring (P=0.030),and extracapsular extension (P=0.000). Conclusion Conventional ultrasound and CEUS are helpful for predicting the cervical LNM of PTC. CEUS can obtain more accurate diagnostic results for the extracapsular extension,which contributes to the prediction of cervical LNM.