Contrast-enhanced ultrasound: a valuable modality for extracapsular extension assessment in papillary thyroid cancer

ConclusionsCompared with conventional US, CEUS is a more valuable and non-invasive imaging modality to detect ECE.Key Points• Single capsular invasion was a poor predictor of cervical lymph node metastasis, while extracapsular extension assessments were clinically significant for predicting cervical lymph node metastasis.• CEUS is better than conventional US in detecting extracapsular extension in papillary thyroid carcinoma (AUC: 79.4% vs. 65.8%) (p = 0.02).• Among the thyroid papillary carcinoma nodules with differential enhancement, hyper-enhanced nodules had the highest incidence of single capsule invasion (41.9%), while hypo-enhanced ones had a higher incidence of ECE (47.4%).
Source: European Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: research