EU-TIRADS-Based Omission of Fine-Needle Aspiration and Cytology from Thyroid Nodules Overlooks a Substantial Number of Follicular Thyroid Cancers

Table 4

The occurrence of individual suspicious ultrasound characteristics in three subtypes of thyroid cancer. For comparison, previously published data are given ([11], [14–17], [22], [33], [39–56]).

	Follicular cancer		Medullary cancer		Papillary cancer
	Mean ± SD	Median (range)	Mean ± SD	Median (range)	Mean ± SD	Median (range)
Marked hypoechogenicity
Present study	22.2 ± 19.4		44.4 ± 27.8		25.0 ± 43.5
Literature data	5.2 ± 15.3	3.6 (2.5–10.9)	29.3 ± 11.1	32.7 (19.6–52.4)	38.5 ± 24.6	32.7 (17.1-84-9)
Microcalcifications
Present study	44.4 ± 27.8		44.4 ± 27.8		65.0 ± 47.9
Literature data	16.2 ± 22.1	7.7 (0–61.5)	37.0 ± 8.8	37.5 (16.7–47.2)	49.5 ± 25.0	50.9 (17.8–89.1)
Irregular shape
Present study	11.1 ± 11.1		33.3 ± 50.0		32.0 ± 22.0
Literature data	17.0 ± 17.5	14.1 (0–44.4)	27.4 ± 19.7	36.4 (2.9–63.1)	40.8 ± 25.0	36.4 (9.6–74.0)
Irregular borders
Present study	33.3 ± 50.0		55.6 ± 52.7		46.0 ± 50.0
Literature data	23.3 ± 19.4	22.0 (0–60.9)	37.9 ± 22.4	45.2 (0–63.6)	48.2 ± 28.9	40.4 (22.3–92.9)

All values are given in %.