ArticleJournal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine2026
A Comparison of Detection Rates Between Ultrasound and Post-Therapeutic I-131 SPECT/CT for Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.
Article in Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Optimizing Post-Therapeutic Imaging in Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Critical Comparison of Ultrasound and I-131 SPECT/CT.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2026Article
- Methodological Considerations in Comparing Ultrasound and SPECT/CT for Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study compares the diagnostic performance of Ultrasound and post-therapeutic I-131 SPECT/CT for detecting cervical lymph node metastases in postoperative patients. We also characterize the sonographic features of metastatic nodes and map their distribution across cervical levels.
methodsA retrospective, reference-standard-led cohort study was conducted. The cohort comprised 172 post-thyroidectomy PTC patients, from which 266 individual lymph nodes with pathologically proven metastasis were analyzed. The detection rates of US and I-131 SPECT/CT were compared using McNemar's test. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent sonographic predictors of a node being classified as suspicious on ultrasound.
resultsUS demonstrated a significantly higher detection rate for proven metastatic nodes than SPECT/CT (75.0% versus 55.8%, P < .001). Microcalcifications [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.64, P = .03] and hypoechogenicity (aOR = 1.57, P = .02) were the strongest independent predictors of a node being classified as suspicious on ultrasound. Level VI was the most frequently involved nodal station (55%) and the only independent predictor of metastatic involvement (OR = 2.64, P = .028).
conclusionUltrasound demonstrated superior detection of metastatic lymph nodes, identifying a substantial subset (32.7%) of RAI-refractory disease missed by SPECT/CT. SPECT/CT remains valuable for confirming RAI avidity and detecting occult functional disease. These findings support a combined imaging strategy according to the metastatic characteristics. The presence of microcalcifications and hypoechogenicity was an important sonographic predictor of malignancy, with Level VI being the most common and predictable site of metastatic involvement.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.