THYROID AUTONOMY WITH COLOR-CODED IMAGE-DIRECTED DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY -INTERNAL HYPERVASCULARIZATION FOR THE RECOGNITION OF AUTONOMOUS ADENOMAS

In a prospective study, we assessed the possibility of recognizing aut onomous adenomas of the thyroid with color-coded image-directed Dopple r sonography using internal hypervascularization in thyroid nodules fo r identification. Fifty-three patients with thyroid nodules underwent additional CCDS examination and nuclear scintigraphy (reference). Of 2 9 patients having autonomous adenomas, 28 patients presented internal hypervascularization in their nodules resulting in a sensitivity of 96 % and a specificity was 75%. Interestingly CCDS detected six adenomas in patients showing normal laboratory data (bTSH, TT3, FT4). CCDS coul d be used to exclude focal adenomas with a negative predictive value o f 94%. The positive predictive value for adenoma was 82%. (C) 1997 Joh n Wiley & Sons, Inc.