Biomaterial Database

Tl-201 thyroid imaging in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid nodules. 1991

M el-Desouki

Nuclear Medicine Department, College of Medicine, King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

To evaluate the value of Tl-201 thyroid imaging in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid nodules, 58 patients with histologically proven thyroid masses were studied. The nature of the thyroid tumor was initially assessed by Tc-99m scans. Early and delayed Tl-201 thyroid imaging were performed in all patients, and thallium uptake and clearance in the cold nodules were assessed visually. Of the 20 patients with histologically proven malignant nodules, 19 showed increased Tl-201 activity in both the early and delayed images, indicating a sensitivity of 95%. On the other hand, 35 out of the 38 patients with benign nodules showed no increased thallium activity in the nodules on the delayed images, indicating a specificity of 92%. When early thallium images were analyzed separately, the sensitivity was 100% but the specificity was only 37%. By combining early and delayed Tl-201 images, differentiation between benign and malignant cold nodules is feasible. False-positive and false-negative cases will be discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D011877	Radionuclide Imaging	The production of an image obtained by cameras that detect the radioactive emissions of an injected radionuclide as it has distributed differentially throughout tissues in the body. The image obtained from a moving detector is called a scan, while the image obtained from a stationary camera device is called a scintiphotograph.	Gamma Camera Imaging,Radioisotope Scanning,Scanning, Radioisotope,Scintigraphy,Scintiphotography,Imaging, Gamma Camera,Imaging, Radionuclide
D003937	Diagnosis, Differential	Determination of which one of two or more diseases or conditions a patient is suffering from by systematically comparing and contrasting results of diagnostic measures.	Diagnoses, Differential,Differential Diagnoses,Differential Diagnosis
D005069	Evaluation Studies as Topic	Works about studies that determine the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies.	Critique,Evaluation Indexes,Evaluation Methodology,Evaluation Report,Evaluation Research,Methodology, Evaluation,Pre-Post Tests,Qualitative Evaluation,Quantitative Evaluation,Theoretical Effectiveness,Use-Effectiveness,Critiques,Effectiveness, Theoretical,Evaluation Methodologies,Evaluation Reports,Evaluation, Qualitative,Evaluation, Quantitative,Evaluations, Qualitative,Evaluations, Quantitative,Indexes, Evaluation,Methodologies, Evaluation,Pre Post Tests,Pre-Post Test,Qualitative Evaluations,Quantitative Evaluations,Report, Evaluation,Reports, Evaluation,Research, Evaluation,Test, Pre-Post,Tests, Pre-Post,Use Effectiveness
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D012680	Sensitivity and Specificity	Binary classification measures to assess test results. Sensitivity or recall rate is the proportion of true positives. Specificity is the probability of correctly determining the absence of a condition. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)	Specificity,Sensitivity,Specificity and Sensitivity
D013794	Thallium Radioisotopes	Unstable isotopes of thallium that decay or disintegrate emitting radiation. Tl atoms with atomic weights 198-202, 204, and 206-210 are thallium radioisotopes.	Radioisotopes, Thallium
D013959	Thyroid Diseases	Pathological processes involving the THYROID GLAND.	Disease, Thyroid,Diseases, Thyroid,Thyroid Disease