Superb Microvascular Imaging Compared with Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Assessing Laser Ablation Treatment of Benign Thyroid Nodules

Figure 1

A 46-year-old woman with an incompletely ablated nodule in the right lobe of the thyroid. (a) The original size of the nodule was 23 mm × 14 mm × 16 mm. (b) Intraoperative 2D-ultrasound monitoring during laser ablation showed gasification at the front end of the optical fiber and a hypoechoic area at the periphery of the nodule. (c) Postoperative CEUS showed an enhanced signal (arrow) within the ablated lesion. (d) Color SMI revealed microvasculature (arrow) within the ablated lesion. (e) Monochrome SMI also showed microvasculature (arrow) within the ablated nodule, which had better contrast compared with the color SMI.

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