Objective:

To explore the correlation between contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic features and pathological changes in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Methods:

The contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic features of 196 thyroid patients with 253 lesions (141 malignant

112 benign) and the pathological changes were retrospectively analyzed. The ultrasonographic results were compared with pathological results by univariate (

2

test) and multivariate analysis (Logistic regression).

Results:

Irregular tumor shape

microcalcification

anteroposterior to transverse diameter ratio (A/T) 1

inhomogeneously low enhancement

narrow range and enhanced irregular tumor shape were correlated well with pathological changes (

2

=8.677

13.074

15.251

1.080

79.441 and 7.595

OR=3.714

35.442

6.632

22.332

29.296 and 18.678

P

0.01).

Conclusion:

Contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic features are correlated with pathological changes in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound could improve detection accuracy of papillary thyroid carcinoma.