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La radiologia medica
Published in: La radiologia medica 10/2015

01-10-2015 | MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

Accuracy of MRI for the diagnosis of metastatic cervical lymphadenopathy in patients with thyroid cancer

Authors: Qinghua Chen, Prashant Raghavan, Sugoto Mukherjee, Mark J. Jameson, James Patrie, Wenjun Xin, Junfang Xian, Zhenchang Wang, Paul A. Levine, Max Wintermark

Published in: La radiologia medica | Issue 10/2015

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to systematically compare a comprehensive array of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features in terms of their sensitivity and specificity to diagnose cervical lymph node metastases in patients with thyroid cancer.

Materials and methods

The study included 41 patients with thyroid malignancy who underwent surgical excision of cervical lymph nodes and had preoperative MR imaging ≤4weeks prior to surgery. Three head and neck neuroradiologists independently evaluated all the MR images. Using the pathology results as reference, the sensitivity, specificity and interobserver agreement of each MR imaging characteristic were calculated.

Results

On multivariate analysis, no single imaging feature was significantly correlated with metastasis. In general, imaging features demonstrated high specificity, but poor sensitivity and moderate interobserver agreement at best.

Conclusions

Commonly used MR imaging features have limited sensitivity at correctly identifying cervical lymph node metastases in patients with thyroid cancer. A negative neck MR scan should not dissuade a surgeon from performing a neck dissection in patients with thyroid carcinomas.
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Metadata
Title
Accuracy of MRI for the diagnosis of metastatic cervical lymphadenopathy in patients with thyroid cancer
Authors
Qinghua Chen
Prashant Raghavan
Sugoto Mukherjee
Mark J. Jameson
James Patrie
Wenjun Xin
Junfang Xian
Zhenchang Wang
Paul A. Levine
Max Wintermark
Publication date
01-10-2015
Publisher
Springer Milan
Published in
La radiologia medica / Issue 10/2015
Print ISSN: 0033-8362
Electronic ISSN: 1826-6983
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-014-0474-0

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