Preoperative Imaging Thyroid Cancer
Publication Date: January 9, 2015
Key Points
Key Points
Though thyroid cancer is associated with high overall survival rates, exceeding 90% for most subtypes, the risk of recurrence has been reported to be as high as 35%.
Most of these recurrences are detected within the first five years after diagnosis and thus may actually represent persistent rather than truly recurrent disease.
It is known that the majority of reoperations for thyroid cancer are preventable and that inadequate preoperative imaging frequently is the root cause of incomplete initial surgery.
Ultrasound remains the most important imaging modality in the evaluation of thyroid cancer and should be used routinely to assess both the primary tumor and all associated cervical lymph node basins preoperatively.
Ultrasound evaluation (‘‘mapping’’) of bilateral lymph node compartments 1–6 should be performed routinely in the preoperative evaluation of patients with definitive cytologic evidence of carcinoma (positive FNA).
Screening for distant metastasis is generally not performed prior to initial surgery for differentiated thyroid cancers.
Most of these recurrences are detected within the first five years after diagnosis and thus may actually represent persistent rather than truly recurrent disease.
It is known that the majority of reoperations for thyroid cancer are preventable and that inadequate preoperative imaging frequently is the root cause of incomplete initial surgery.
Ultrasound remains the most important imaging modality in the evaluation of thyroid cancer and should be used routinely to assess both the primary tumor and all associated cervical lymph node basins preoperatively.
Ultrasound evaluation (‘‘mapping’’) of bilateral lymph node compartments 1–6 should be performed routinely in the preoperative evaluation of patients with definitive cytologic evidence of carcinoma (positive FNA).
Screening for distant metastasis is generally not performed prior to initial surgery for differentiated thyroid cancers.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis
...nctional Imagin...
...onal imaging with positron emissio...
...ed Fine-needle Aspiration of Cervical Lymph Node...
...d evaluation (‘‘mapping’’) of bilateral...
...ing for distant metastasis is generally not per...
...y that the needle tip is visualized within th...
...Table 1. Preoperative Ultrasound Scanning Techn...
...sound Features Predictive of Malignant...
...trasound Features of Benign Lymph Nodes...
...gure 2. Ultrasound Features of Malignan...
...mputed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging...
Table 3. Findings That May Prompt Axial Imaging...
...ross-sectional Images of Invasive Pri...