Assessment by real-time shear wave elastography (SWE) in diffuse thyroid pathology: utility of this new technique

Real-time shear wave ultrasound elastography (SWE) is a new technique, recently introduced in the evaluation of thyroid pathology. Purpose: To evaluate and compare the values of the elasticity index (EI) measured by SWE in healthy subjects and in cases with diffuse thyroid pathology, in order to establish if this investigation could be useful, as a diagnostic tool, in these thyroid diseases. Patients and methods: We studied 136 subjects (F/M = 113/23), 49 with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (CAT), 35 with Graves' disease (GD) diagnosed by specific tests and 52 healthy volunteers. For all subjects, 3 elastography…