International Journal of Radiation Research

en Analysis of the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound with CT imaging in the assessment of preoperative cervical lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid cancer Radiation Biology Radiation Biology تحقيق بديع Original Research <div style="text-align: justify;">Background: Cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) significantly influences the prognostic outcomes of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), and accurate preoperative evaluation is essential. The aim of study was to evaluate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with computed tomography (CT) for diagnosing CLNM. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 120 PTC patients, categorizing them into metastatic (n=56) and non-metastatic (n=64) groups based on pathological confirmation of CLNM. The imaging characteristics and diagnostic accuracy of CEUS, CT, and their combination were estimate. P<0.05 indicates a significant difference. Results: Metastatic group exhibited significantly higher rates of CT features (granular calcification, cystic necrosis within lymph nodes, enhancement of lymph node margins, indistinct borders between lymph nodes and surrounding tissues, irregular lymph node morphology, lymph node length ≥5 mm) and CEUS features (hyper enhancement, centripetal perfusion, circumferential enhancement) than non-metastatic group (P<0.05). Metastatic lymph nodes also showed significantly higher marginal zone peak intensity (PI) (9.35±2.29 vs 5.54±2.15) and area under curve (AUC) (243.7±41.83 vs 164.2±34.86) (P<0.001). The lymph node detection rate of the combined diagnosis (95.31%) was significantly higher than that of single CEUS (82.81%) or CT (71.88%) (P<0.05). In addition, combined diagnosis was associated with higher sensitivity (90.6% vs. 87.5% vs. 85.9%), specificity (94.6% vs. 83.9% vs. 76.8%), and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (0.926 vs. 0.857 vs. 0.814) were also superior to single CEUS or CT. Conclusion: The combination of CEUS and CT enhances the preoperative diagnosis of CLNM in PTC.</div> Thyroid cancer, papillary, lymphatic metastasis, tomography, X-ray computed, ultrasonography, diagnostic imaging. 441 447 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-1515&slc_lang=en&sid=1 T. Yu 7900319475328460033539 7900319475328460033539 No Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei; and Department of Ultrasonography, Songzi People's Hospital, Songzi, Hubei, China L. Liu 7900319475328460033540 7900319475328460033540 No Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, China Z. Wang 7900319475328460033541 7900319475328460033541 No Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, China R. Li 7900319475328460033542 7900319475328460033542 No Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, China M. Zhang littlefish.love@163.com 7900319475328460033543 7900319475328460033543 Yes Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, China C. Liu 7900319475328460033544 7900319475328460033544 No Department of Ultrasonography, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, China