Abstract
Background: Thyroid nodules are highly prevalent, and owing to their malignant potential, proper evaluation is imperative. The objective of this study was to characterize variation in thyroid nodule evaluations. Materials and methods: This retrospective review included all consecutive surgical referrals for thyroid nodules from October to December 2017 at a single institution. We determined the proportion of evaluations that contained a thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level and a high-quality ultrasound because these components of thyroid nodule evaluations are common to several evidence-based guidelines. Results: The study cohort included 64 patients, with a median age of 51.5 y. Primary care providers referred most patients (51.6%), followed by endocrinologists (40.6%), and other specialists (7.8%). In total, 35.9% of evaluations did not include a TSH value, which is vital to any thyroid nodule evaluation. Most evaluations (95.3%) included a dedicated ultrasound, but only 12.3% of ultrasound reports commented on nodule size in three dimensions, structure, echogenicity, and lymph nodes, which we considered the minimum commentary indicative of a high-quality ultrasound. Only 51.5% of evaluations included both a TSH and a thyroid ultrasound. If patients receiving low-quality ultrasound reports were excluded, 9.4% of the entire cohort received a guideline-concordant, high-quality evaluation. Conclusions: Great variation exists in the quality of thyroid nodule evaluations before surgical referral. Two necessary components of thyroid nodule evaluations that contribute most to the observed deviation from guidelines are obtaining a TSH value and obtaining an ultrasound with enough information to risk stratify the nodule.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 9-14 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Surgical Research |
Volume | 244 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work is supported in part by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences , National Institutes of Health , through grant UL1TR001998 . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
Keywords
- Fine needle aspiration
- Quality of care
- Thyroid
- Thyroid nodule
- Thyroid ultrasound
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery