Evaluation of Abnormalities of Thyroid Gland by High Resolution Ultrasound and Color Doppler Imaging along with Cytological Correlation

Background: Thyroid lesions are a common finding in the general population, esp. in iodine deficiency areas such as in our country. Thyroid disorders like thyroid neoplasm still pose a major problem in both developing and developed countries. Nodular abnormality of thyroid represents a significant problem worldwide, the incidence of nodular thyroid disease is on the rise owing to the association of childhood irradiation with increased incidence of both thyroid nodularity and carcinoma. In western countries approximately 5% and in iodine-deficient countries approximately 25% of the general populations have thyroid nodules. Although most of them are benign, 5-10% was malignant. Materials and Methods: Random selection of patient of all age groups from various OPDs will be done. Patients referred to us having a palpable thyroid mass or neck swelling or presenting with clinical symptoms suggesting thyroid dysfunction, regardless of age, and sex will be included in the study. Results: This study highlight the usefulness of ultrasonography in the evaluation of the palpable thyroid masses as an adjunct to clinical examination. Ultrasound has added advantage of being safe, non-invasive, rapid. Reliable, acceptable economical and probable imaging modility without hazard of radiation. It can also guide interventional procedures like cyst aspiration and fine needle biopsy. It has also capability to detect small non-palpable thyroid masses (<1 cm in diameter). Conclusion: Ultrasonography is 100% effective in diagnosing a thyroid lesion whether solid. Cystic or mixed. It can help to differentiate a malignant lesion from benign masses, with some limitation. Hence, it can be used as a valuable adjunct to clinical examination and should be offered to all patients presenting with palpable thyroid masses.