Objective To explore the value of trans-lymphatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)in the diagnosis of cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer. Methods The patients with suspected thyroid cancer underwent conventional ultrasound and trans-lymphatic CEUS examinations before the biopsy.The differences in ultrasound and CEUS characteristics of cervical lymph nodes between the metastatic group and the non-metastatic group were compared,and pathological results were regarded as the golden standard. Results Twenty patients had thyroid cancer,including 12 cases with lymph node metastasis and 8 cases without metastasis.The diagnostic sensitivity(91.7%
Contrast Media ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes/diagnostic imaging* ; Lymphatic Metastasis/diagnostic imaging* ; Thyroid Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Ultrasonography

Quantum dots(QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals composed of element from the periodic groups of II(-IIIIII( or III(-IIIII(, which possess wide excitation spectra and narrow emission spectra. The maximum emission wavelength of QDs can be controlled in a relatively simple manner by variation of particle size and composition. QDs can be tuned at a variety of precise wavelengths from ultraviolet(UV) to near infrared(NIR). QDs can be conjugated to a wide range of biological targets, including monoclonal antibodies, proteins, polymers and nucleic acid probes. These characteristics make it not only for revealing interaction of nucleic acids, proteins and other biological macromolecules, by biological imaging but also for detection of lymph node metastasis through preoperative and introperative lymphatic imaging. Along with the continuously improvement of observation techniques and quantum dot structure optimization in recent years, the research on lymph node imaging is ongoing.
Diagnostic Imaging ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Proteins ; Quantum Dots

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common pathological type of thyroid cancer,accounting for 90%.Most cases of PTC are inert tumors,while a few are invasive.Cervical lymph node metastasis is one of the major manifestations of invasive PTC.Preoperative accurate prediction of cervical lymph node metastasis is of great significance for the selection of therapeutic regimen and the evaluation of prognosis.New ultrasound technology is a non-invasive,convenient,and radiation-free examination method,playing a key role in predicting the cervical lymph node metastasis of PTC.This paper reviews the research status and makes an outlook on new ultrasound technology in predicting cervical lymph node metastasis of PTC.
Humans ; Thyroid Cancer, Papillary/diagnostic imaging* ; Lymphatic Metastasis/diagnostic imaging* ; Carcinoma, Papillary/diagnostic imaging* ; Thyroid Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Technology

Cervical nodal metastases are common in patients with head and neck cancers. Early assessment is important for treatment planning and prognosis. Ultrasound has been widely used in the evaluation of neck lymph nodes, with common parameters including location, size, shape, boundary, hilus, echogenicity, vascular pattern, and resistance index. The diagnostic accuracy has been dramatically improved along with the introduction of new techniques including contrast-enhanced ultrasound, elastography, and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy. Neck ultrasound has became an important tool in preoperative assessment and postoperative follow-up for patients with head and neck cancers.
Head and Neck Neoplasms ; pathology ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Neck ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of lymphatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (LCEUS) with intra-glandular injection of contrast agent for diagnosis of central compartment lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer. METHODS: From November, 2020 to May, 2022, the patients suspected of having thyroid cancer and scheduled for biopsy at our center received both conventional ultrasound and LCEUS examinations of the central compartment lymph nodes before surgery. All the patients underwent surgical dissection of the lymph nodes. The perfusion features in LCEUS were classified as homogeneous enhancement, heterogeneous enhancement, regular/irregular ring, and non-enhancement. With pathological results as the gold standard, we compared the diagnostic ability of conventional ultrasound and LCEUS for identifying metastasis in the central compartment lymph nodes. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients with 60 lymph nodes were included in the final analysis. Pathological examination reported metastasis in 34 of the lymph nodes, and 26 were benign lymph nodes. With ultrasound findings of heterogeneous enhancement, irregular ring and non-enhancement as the criteria for malignant lesions, LCEUS had a diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 97.06%, 92.31% and 95% for diagnosing metastatic lymph nodes, respectively, demonstrating its better performance than conventional ultrasound (P < 0.001). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that LCEUS had a significantly greater area under the curve than conventional ultrasound for diagnosing metastatic lymph nodes (94.7% [0.856-0.988] vs 78.2% [0.656-0.878], P=0.003). CONCLUSION LCEUS can enhance the display and improve the diagnostic accuracy of the central compartment lymph nodes to provide important clinical evidence for making clinical decisions on treatment of thyroid cancer.
Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis/diagnostic imaging* ; Thyroid Neoplasms/pathology* ; Ultrasonography/methods* ; Lymph Nodes/pathology* ; ROC Curve

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to discuss the clinical value of central neck lymph node dissection in papillary thyroid carcinoma, especially in thyroid papillary microcarcinoma (PTMC). Also this article wants to evaluate the diagnostic significance of preoperative ultrasonography of central neck metastasis lymph nodes and the clinical significance of preoperative ultrasonography in central neck lymph node dissection. METHOD: Collected and analyzed 121 cases from September 2012 to December 2013. All of them had done the central neck lymph node dissection with the same standard by the same surgeon in our department. Evaluate the value of preoperative ultrasound diagnostic in thyroid microcarcinoma and non-microcarcinoma. RESULT: In the 121 patients, The 62 patients were diagnosed with PTMC (primary lesion d≤1. 0 cm). Accuracy rate of ultrasound diagnostic was 74. 2% (46/62), the rate of missed diagnosis was 61. 9% (13/21), the rate of misdiagnosis was 7. 3 % (3/41), sensitivity was 38. 1% (8/21), specificity was 92.7% (38/41), positive predictive value was 72. 7% (8/11), negative predictive value was 74. 5% (38/51) and the value of Kappa was 0. 3485. The other 59 patients was diagnosed with thyroid papillary non-microcarcinoma (primary lesion d>1. 0 cm). The accuracy rate was 55. 9% (33/ 59), the rate of missed diagnosis was 58. 3% (21/36), the rate of misdiagnosis was 21. 7% (5/23), sensitivity was 41. 7% (15/36), specificity was 78. 3% (18/23), positive predictive value was 75. 0% (15/20), negative predictive value was 46. 2% (18/39) and the value of Kappa was 0. 1757. CONCLUSION Cervical central lymph node dissection was necessary when the ultrasound diagnosis of cervical central lymph node-positive was prompted suspiciously in the thyroid papillary microcarcinoma. However, when it prompted negative, we could recommend patients to do the prophylactic central lymph node dissection in conjunction with the risk factors. Whether the ultrasound diagnosis of central lymph node was prompted suspiciously or not in the thyroid papillary microcarcinoma and non-microcarcinoma, the central lymph nodes dissection is necessary.
Carcinoma ; diagnostic imaging ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; diagnostic imaging ; Neck ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Cancer, Papillary ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Ultrasonography

To determine the relevance between MDCT features and anatomic-pathological basis of lymphoid neoplasm in cervico-thoracic junctional region, we performed a retrospective analysis of 69 patients with lymphoid neoplasm (lymphoma: 41 patients; metastatic tumor: 28 patients) involving the cervico-thoracic junctional region for MDCT features and distribution of lesions. The relevance between MDCT features and the anatomic-pathological basis in this region were evaluated. Among all the 41 patients with lymphoma, 29 with NHL (70.7%), 12 with HD (29.3%). The lymphomatous lymphadenopathy mainly located in superficial lateral cervix (51.2%, 21/41) ,deep jugular chain (65.9%, 27/41), supraclavicular fossa (75.6%, 31/41), paratrachea space in anterior mediastinum (46.3%, 19/41), around aortic arch (56.1%, 23/41), aortopulmonary window (53.7%, 22/41), upper anterior mediastinum (41.5%, 17/41), subcarinal space (26.8%, 11/41) and paraesophageal space (17.1%, 7/41). 28 patients had metastatic lymphoid tumor. The primary tumor were nasopharynx tumor (5 patients), thyroid cancer (7 patients), lung cancer (10 patients), and esophageal cancer (6 patients). Most metastasis took stage by stage in the way of lymphatic return, but a minority of cases migrated jumpily. The main metastatic sites were: beside jugular chain (82.1%), supraclavicular fossa (75%), paratracheal in anterior mediastinum (60.7%), upper anterior mediastinum (64.3%), beside aortic arch (35.7%), aortopulmonary window (39.2%), and paraesophageal space (28.6%). So lymphoid neoplasms in cervico-thoracic junctional region were involving both lower cervix and upper thorax simultaneously. The MDCT features and main distribution of lesions correlated with the anatomic-pathological characteristics in this region.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; diagnostic imaging ; Lymphoma ; diagnostic imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multidetector Computed Tomography ; Neck ; Thorax ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the diagnostic value of dual-head (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) imaging in metastatic lesion with unknown primary tumour (UPT).

METHODSSeventy patients with UPT underwent dual-head (18)F-FDG imaging after iv (18)F-FDG 1.85 MBq/kg. The primary tumour was diagnosed according to the FDG uptake and T/N value.

RESULTSOf the 70 patients, the primary tumour was identified by positive FDG imaging and finally confirmed pathologically in 58 patients (82.9%), and 12 patients had a negative FDG imaging (17.1%). Forty-two of the 58 positive patients were found to have lung cancer (72.4%). Among the 12 negative patients, their primary tumour was then identified by other diagnostic procedures in 5 patients (41.7%), in 1 patient, the primary site was detected during follow-up, however, the primary tumour was never detected in the rest 6 patients.

CONCLUSIONDual-probe (18)F-FDG imaging is a simple, quick, non-invasive and sensitive technique with an accuracy over 80% in the diagnosis of unknown primary tumour. The lung is found to be the most frequent primary site. Dual-probe (18)F-FDG imaging can be recommended as the first diagnostic choice for UPT.

Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Neoplasms, Unknown Primary ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Positron-Emission Tomography

OBJECTIVETo investigate the sonographic features of the cervical lymph nodes in rabbit VX2 tongue carcinoma model and hyperplasia cervical lymph nodes model using gray scale contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) after intravenous administration of SonoVue (a sonographic contrast agent) and to evaluate the potential utility of CEUS in detecting early metastatic cervical lymph nodes in the rabbit VX2 tongue carcinoma model.

METHODSTwenty New Zealand rabbits were placed into 2 groups, 12 for node metastasis and 18 for node hyperplasia. Cervical CEUS was performed in the rabbits of both groups before and after intravenous administration of SonoVue(0.6 ml). The phase, pattern, beginning area and echogenicity of enhancement of the lymph nodes on the right neck were observed and recorded. Dissection of the lymph nodes were guided by the marks made during CEUS and examined histopathologically.

RESULTSOn the right side of each rabbit only one lymph node were detected in both groups. All 8 cases in the hyperplasia group showed homogeneous enhancement starting from central, while in the metastasis group one case showed homogeneous enhancement starting from the central, 3 cases showed inhomogeneous enhancement starting from periphery, and 8 cases showed inhomogeneous enhancement starting both from central and periphery. One lymph node was dissected on the right side of the neck in each rabbit in both groups. Pathological examination showed all 12 lymph nodes in the metastatic group were metastatic lymph nodes, and all 8 lymph nodes in the hyperplasia group were hyperplastic lymph nodes.

CONCLUSIONSAfter intravenous CEUS, metastatic lymph nodes show inhomogeneous enhancement starting from periphery/central or periphery area, while hyperplastic lymph nodes show homogeneous enhancement starting from central area. Metastatic lymph nodes can be characterized as being neoplastic or benign on the basis of the enhancement patterns evaluated by CEUS.

Administration, Intravenous ; Animals ; Carcinoma ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Rabbits ; Tongue Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the role of preoperative ultrasonography in detecting early cervical lymph node metastasis in differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

METHODSData were reviewed retrospectively from medical records between July 2003 and July 2005, in which patients were divided into 2 groups: group A (study group): 51 (55 sides) patients of differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients with impalpable node but with ultrasonic positive nodal metastasis; group B (control group): 57 (64 sides) patients with preoperative palpable cervical lymph nodes. All patients had been undergone modified neck dissection. The preoperative ultrasonographic results and the preoperative pathologic finding had been compared in group A.

RESULTSIn 51 patients (55 sides of preoperative positive ultrasonography 49 sides had been demonstrated cervical lymph nodes metastasis pathologically. The sensitivity of ultrasonography was 89.1%. Ultrasonography detected cervical lymph node believed to be uninvolved by physical examination in 41.2% of patients. 65.5% of the cervical lymph metastasis was multilevel and the most frequent involvement site was middle neck and the involvement rate was 70.9% in ultrasonography. 75.5% of the cervical lymph metastasis was multilevel and the most frequent involvement site was level Ill (65.3%) in pathologic finding.

CONCLUSIONSPreoperative ultrasonograpy is a mainstay in detecting cervical lymph nodes metastasis in thyroid cancer patients. It can detect the early cervical lymph node metastasis and localize the position of the cervical metastasis. All the thyroid cancer patients should undergo preoperative ultrasonography and the extent of the neck dissection relies on the preoperative ultrasonic finding of the neck.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; diagnostic imaging ; secondary ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Preoperative Care ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography