Role of Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Thyroiditis and Evaluation of Individual Sonographic Features in Proved Cases of Thyroiditis

Objective: To evaluate the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of thyroiditis and to evaluate its sonographic features. Methods: Thirty-nine cases included in this study, age ranged between16-65years with a mean of 39.4 years. The majority (95%) of the cases were female. Examinations were done in an outpatient clinic using real-time Sonography with the high-frequency linear probe, Following variables; gland size, its echogenicity, texture, vascularity and pattern of involvement by the disease process were recorded, then accordingly, a provisional diagnosis of thyroiditis made and reported. After that, US-guided Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNA) done for the patients according to physical referral and order, while the procedure explained to the patient's and written consent. Then the final results were compared while FNA was considered as a gold standard diagnostic test. Results: Thirty-seven cases (95%) proved to be thyroiditis with ultrasound diagnostic sensitivity of 95%. Most commonly diagnosed type of thyroiditis was chronic (69.2%). Regardless type of thyroiditis, most common sonographic features were decreased in echogenicity and heterogenic texture, they were reported among all studied cases (100%). Majority of cases (Nearly 67%) had large thyroid size and most of the patients (nearly 77%) had diffuse thyroid involvement. Regarding vascularity, decreased vascularity was most common finding (43%), while among cases of increased vascularity, majority of cases (77%) were chronic thyroiditis Conclusions: Ultrasound is a sensitive tool and can play an important role in the diagnosis of thyroiditis, while it's available, noninvasive and cost-effective imaging modality. The decrease in echo and heterogeneity in texture are the two most common US features in the diagnosis of thyroiditis.