Background/aims: The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic validity of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography (US) when predicting the extrathyroidal extension of papillary thyroid cancer.
Methods: All 2D data were interpreted in real time and 3D data were stored, rendered using tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI), and then reviewed retrospectively.
Results: Extrathyroidal extension was present in 17 papillary thyroid cancers(24.3%) on pathology reports. The presence of contact was significantly associated with extrathyroidal extension on both 2D and 3D US (p = 0.007 and p = 0.003), and the sensitivity and specificity were not significantly different between 2D and 3D US (p = 1.000 and p = 0.754). The coexistence of protrusion and contact was not significantly associated with extrathyroidal extension on either 2D or 3D sonogram.
Conclusions: Three-dimensional images rendered with TUI algorithms alone do not seem to be markedly superior to real-time 2D US in predicting the extrathyroidal extension of papillary thyroid cancer.
Keywords: Extrathyroidal extension; Three-dimensional ultrasonography; Thyroid neoplasm; Tomographic ultrasound imaging; Tumor staging.