Comparative study of thyroid puncture biopsy guided by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and conventional ultrasound

The aim of this study was to investigate the application value of thyroid puncture biopsy guided by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). A total of 48 patients with 51 solid thyroid nodules (suspected papillary thyroid carcinoma, PTC) were enrolled in the study. Following detection by conventional ultrasonography and CEUS, puncture biopsy of the suspicious lesions guided by conventional ultrasonography and CEUS was conducted, respectively. Then, pathological diagnosis was performed. The number of PTC positive nodules and puncture points detected by the two methods were compared. In 51 nodules with 310 punctures, 44 nodules (86.3%, 44/51) and 240 punctures (77.4%, 240/310) were pathologically diagnosed as PTC. In the 44 nodules diagnosed as PTC, 43 and 34 nodules were detected by CEUS and conventional ultrasound, respectively, with a significant difference between the two methods (P=0.022). Eleven (25%) nodules were independently detected by CEUS. The sensitivity and accuracy of puncture point detection by CEUS (82.9 and 82.6%, respectively) were significantly higher compared with those of conventional ultra-sound (48.3 and 56.5%, respectively; P<0.001). The specificity of puncture points detected by CEUS (81.4%) was significantly lower compared with that by conventional ultrasound (84.3%; P=0.009). Compared with conventional ultrasound, a greater number of PTC-positive nodules were detected by CEUS, with increased sensitivity and accuracy of the puncture points.