ARFI elastography for the evaluation of diffuse thyroid gland pathology: Preliminary results

Table 1 Mean thyroid stiffness values assessed by acoustic radiation force impulse in normal patients and in patients with diffuse thyroid pathology

	RTL (m/s)	LTL (m/s)	P value	Mean ARFI (m/s)
Normal	1.98 ± 0.37	2.01 ± 0.48	0.74 (NS)	2 ± 0.40
GD	2.62 ± 0.58	2.72 ± 0.61	0.41 (NS)	2.67 ± 0.53
CAT	2.34 ± 0.61	2.53 ± 0.68	0.20 (NS)	2.43 ± 0.58

GD: Graves’ disease; CAT: Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis; RTL: Right thyroid lobe; LTL: Left thyroid lobe; m/s: Meters/second; ARFI: Acoustic radiation force impulse; NS: Not significant.

Table 2 Mean acoustic radiation force impulse thyroid stiffness values in normal and diffuse thyroid pathology, with convex and linear probes, median of 10 measurements vs median of 5 measurements

	10 measurements (m/s)	5 measurements (m/s)	P value
Normal	2.01 ± 0.40	2.01 ± 0.40	1 (NS)
GD	2.64 ± 0.52	2.59 ± 0.54	0.66 (NS)
CAT	2.50 ± 0.56	2.45 ± 0.54	0.72 (NS)
Convex probe	2.09 ± 0.39	2.11 ± 0.45	0.85 (NS)
Linear probe	2.03 ± 0.36	2.06 ± 0.38	0.75 (NS)

GD: Graves’ disease; CAT: Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis; NS: Not significant; m/s: Meters/second.

Table 3 Thyroid stiffness acoustic radiation force impulse measurements according to thyroid stimulating hormone levels

	ARFI values in patients with normal TSH (m/s)	ARFI values in patients with abnormal TSH (m/s)	P value
All patients	2.35 ± 0.49 (20 patients)	2.64 ± 0.56 (46 patients)	0.04
GD	2.12 ± 0.27 (6 patients)	2.67 ± 0.51 (29 patients)	0.01
CAT	2.42 ± 0.55 (11 patients)	2.49 ± 0.52 (14 patients)	0.74

GD: Graves’ disease; CAT: Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis; ARFI: Acoustic radiation force impulse; TSH: thyroid stimulating hormone; m/s: Meters/second.