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

Purpose. To compare superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) for evaluating the ablation of benign thyroid nodules. Methods. 225 Patients with 256 benign thyroid nodules underwent conventional ultrasound, color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), CEUS, and SMI before and after laser ablation. They were routinely followed up at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. The volume and volume reduction rate of the ablated nodules was calculated. Results. On SMI, the complete ablated nodules had no microvascular perfusion, while the incompletely ablated nodules had microvascular perfusion at the edge of the nodule. The percentages of the detected incompletely ablated nodules of SMI (37/256, 14.45%) and CEUS (41/256, 16.02%) were comparable, and both were significantly higher than CDFI (P

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