The sonographer’s and pathologist’s perspective of echogenic microfoci in papillary thyroid carcinoma
Authors' conclusion
PEF in PTC mainly correspond to PB on histopathology. Although observation of EMF varies among sonographers, this inconsistency can be reduced by classifying EMF into subgroups and keeping the term 'PEF' only for true microcalcifications.
Study context
- Population
- Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) nodules with and without echogenic microfoci (EMF), two large thyroid centres; US video records interpreted by three blinded sonographers, histopathology by two blinded pathologists
- Participants
- 114 malignant nodules
- Comparison
- Sonographic echogenic microfoci types vs histopathology
- Outcome
- Interobserver agreement and histopathological correlates of EMF
Methodological detailstwo centres, blinded sonographers, blinded pathologists
- Two centres
- Blinded sonographers
- Blinded pathologists
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Average Cohen's κ of three sonographers for EMF presence (substantial agreement)
0.775
κ for punctate echogenic foci (PEF) (substantial agreement)
0.658
κ for other EMF types (only fair agreement)
0.052 to 0.296
Correlation between amount of PEF and psammoma bodies (PB) (strong positive), r
0.634
P < 0.001
Original publication
The sonographer’s and pathologist’s perspective of echogenic microfoci in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Eur Thyroid J. Published 28 December 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →