Thyroid Nodules in Children 101: Can Ultrasound US be Used to Diagnose a Benign Thyroid Nodule Alone without a Biopsy? Probably Not.
Gannon A.W. et al
JCEM May 2018 103(5) : 1958-1965
Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasound in Children with thyroid nodules.
Dr.Guttler comments on this article.
- Can US predict a low risk for cancer?
- 417 patients.157/417 had follow up.
- 89% the US diagnosed a benign nodule.
- US is useful for evaluation of childhood nodules.
- However there were no combinations of findings sufficient to exclude thyroid cancer.
- A thyroid biopsy was essential to not miss a thyroid cancer in childhood nodules.
- Nodules with >25% cyst were the least likely to be cancer but even that group had a higher incidence of cancer than adults.
- Guidelines recommend biopsy all thyroid nodules > 1 cm and/or with high risk features.
- The study results were unable to identify a group that US could be used in place of a biopsy.
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