Association between computed tomography-detected calcification and thyroid carcinoma
Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of calcification detected by computed tomography (CT) for the differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules. This is a retrospective study of 930 consecutive patients (709 women, 221 men; mean age 51 years) with pathologically proven thyroid nodules. The characteristics of calcification on CT images were correlated with the pathological results. A total of 168 patients were pathologically diagnosed with thyroid carcinomas and 762 patients with benign thyroid nodules. Calcification was found in 231 cases (24.84%). The incidence of calcification was significantly higher in patients with thyroid carcinoma (52.38%) than in those with benign nodules (18.77%; P Detection of calcification in diagnosing thyroid carcinoma had a sensitivity of 52.38% (88/168) and specificity of 81.23% (619/762). No significant difference was noticed in the incidence of microcalcification (≤ 2 mm) between malignant and benign nodules (P = 0.305). Calcification is more frequently found in thyroid carcinomas than benign nodules. CT detected-calcification may suggest malignant disease. Further confirmation of the suspected malignancy with fine-needle aspiration or surgery is still needed.