Thyroid nodule CT

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] ; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Mahshid Mir, M.D. [2]

CT scan has low sensitivity in diagnosing thyroid nodules but it may serve as an alternative imaging modality for the diagnosis of thyroid nodule, in case of large, rapidly growing, retrosternal and invasive tumors.

CT scan is not a good choice for cervical lymph node metastases evaluation because its sensitivity is low (30-40%), but as an alternative imaging modalitiy, it may be useful in the assessment of tumors with the following features:

• Large tumors
• Rapidly growing tumors
• Retrosternal tumors
• Invasive tumors
  • To assess the involvement of extrathyroidal tissues

Jeong HS, Baek CH, Son YI, Choi JY, Kim HJ, Ko YH, Chung JH, Baek HJ 2006 Integrated 18F-FDG PET=CT for the initial evaluation of cervical node level of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma: comparison with ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf ) 65: 402–407

Thyroid nodule rupture:

Sonography and/or computed tomography (CT) could help diagnose this complication, which is visualized as the breakdown of the thyroid capsule and the formation of a new mass located between intra- and extra-thyroidal lesions at the RF site

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