Is pattern III as evidenced by US Color-Doppler useful in predicting thyroid nodule malignancy? Large-scale retrospective analysis

Objective. To evaluate whether pattern III of color Doppler Ultrasound may identify malignant nodules. Materials and Methods. We have retrospectively analyzed data pertaining to 1090 patients of both genders (230 males, 860 females), with an average age of 53 years (min 17 years, max 81 years), who underwent thyroidectomy in Department of Surgical Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome since January 2003 through June 2009. We correlated color-Doppler characteristics and histological features through statistical analysis so as to verify statistical correlation between them. Results. Our study showed that 164/273 (60.1%) patients with malignant disease were associated with vascularization pattern III. Regarding benign disease, 152/268 (56.7%) patients showed a pattern of vascularization 3 at ultrasonography. The statistical analysis was not able to show any correlation between pattern III and malignancy. Conclusion. Pattern 111 cannot be used to predict malignancy with confidence, and FNA is still mandatory to rule out the nature of the nodule. Clin Ter 2010; 161(2):e49-e5