ULTRASOUND ASSESSMENT OF THYROID NODULES MACROCALCIFICATION
Timofeeva L.A.1,2, Alexandrov Yu.K.3, Yumanov A.O.1, Alekseev S.S.1,2
1 - I.N. Ulianov Chuvash State University. Cheboksary, Russia.
2 - City Clinical Hospital No. 1. Cheboksary, Russia.
3 - Yaroslavl State Medical University. Yaroslavl, Russia.
At ultrasound examination macrocalcifications are the most common among the pathological structures detected in the nodes of the thyroid gland.
Purpose. To determine the diagnostic and prognostic significance of various macrocalcification types of focal masses detected by thyroid gland ultrasound examination.
Materials and methods. A retrospective study of ultrasound data was conducted in 234 patients with thyroid nodules showing signs of macrocalcification. 234 patients with verified pathomorphological diagnosis were selected from the total number of operated patients. According to morphological examination, benign non-cancerous thyroid diseases (group 1) were detected in 177 cases (75,6%), thyroid tumors (group 2) – in 57 cases (24,4%). In all patients, ultrasound and morphological examination revealed macrocalcifications of various structures in the thyroid nodules. The thyroid nodules were graded according to the types and structure of macrocalcifications aimed at determining the prognostic value of the ultrasound feature.
Results and discussion. The study showed that the ultrasound sign “macrocalcifications” has an unstable, unranked level of confidence in different variants thyroid nodules calcification with different morphological structures. The lack of a unified systematization of macrocalcifications of thyroid nodules introduces dissonance in the assessment of ultrasound images of thyroid nodules by specialists. Since ultrasound criteria are volatile in the diagnosis of benign non-cancerous thyroid nodules and calcification is one of the key factors, most benign nodules with macrocalcifications are potentially considered to be as tumors. Ultrasound comparative assessment of benign masses and tumors in the thyroid gland has revealed that the ultrasound sign of “macrocalcifications” cannot be evaluated as a marker of thyroid cancer, it is prognostically dependent on the type of calcification.
Conclusion. The ultrasound sign of “macrocalcification” detected during the examination of patients with nodular masses of the thyroid gland is ambiguous in its significance. It has a different diagnostic weight for different types of pathology. At the same time, in most cases, this is interpreted by ultrasound specialists unambiguously negatively with a bias towards overdiagnosis with an emphasis on oncopathology. It is necessary to rank macrocalcifications according to their structure which reduces the probability of their negative assessments, since the frequency of their detection in benign thyroid nodules is higher than in thyroid tumors.
Keywords: thyroid gland, nodular goiter, macrocalcification, ultrasound examination.
Corresponding author: Timofeeva L.A., e-mail: Этот e-mail адрес защищен от спам-ботов, для его просмотра у Вас должен быть включен Javascript
For citation: Timofeeva L.A., Alexandrov Yu.K., Yumanov A.O., Alekseev S.S. Ultrasound assessment of thyroid nodules macrocalcification. REJR 2026; 16(1):93-103. DOI: 10.21569/2222-7415-2026-16-1-93-103.
Received: 31.03.26 Accepted: 06.05.26