What is a thyroid nodule?

Thyroid nodule refers to a lump in the thyroid gland, which can move up and down with the thyroid gland and has swallowing action. It is a common clinical disease, which can be caused by many reasons.

Although the clinical detection rate of thyroid nodules is high, most of them are found by accident during ultrasound examination. When thyroid nodules are found in physical examination, the nature of the nodules should be clarified as much as possible. Ultrasound examination is a simple, safe and effective means to examine thyroid nodules and judge their properties.

Ultrasonic examination is helpful to judge the nature of thyroid nodules by measuring their size, clear boundary and calcification. If ultrasound suspects that thyroid nodules are malignant, further thyroid puncture examination is needed. In addition to ultrasound, thyroid function, thyroid radionuclide imaging, thyroid CT and other examinations can help to judge the nature of thyroid nodules.

Extended data

The ultrasound report will describe the number, shape, edge, size, calcification and echo of thyroid nodules. Generally speaking, solitary nodules are more common in thyroid adenoma and thyroid cancer. Multiple nodules are more common in nodular goiter; Circular nodules are generally benign, and irregular nodules need to be alert to the possibility of malignancy.

Nodular calcification or sandy calcification are mostly dotted with strong echo, which can be seen in 40% ~ 6 1% papillary carcinoma, while coarse calcification and marginal calcification are generally caused by malnutrition, which are more common in nodular goiter. Very low echo nodules have high specificity in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer.

Therefore, if ultrasound shows that thyroid nodules have calcification (punctate strong echo), hypoechoic solid nodules or uneven echoes within nodules, irregular shapes of nodules, blurred boundaries, no halo, the ratio of anterior-posterior diameter to transverse diameter is greater than 1, and the edges of cervical lymph nodes are irregular, it often indicates that the possibility of malignancy is high.

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