Abstract：Objective To assess the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), puncture feeling of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and their combination in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Methods Between September 2017 and January 2020, a total 312 patients with 312 nodules were examined with conventional ultrasound, CEUS and FNAC techniques. The puncture feeling of each thyroid nodule during FNAC was scored. Pathological results after surgery served as the gold standard. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS, FNAC and their combination respectively.Results Pathological results showed that 116 nodules were benign and 196 nodules were PTC. The accuracy rate of puncture feeling during FNAC combined with CEUS (97.450%) was higher than that of CEUS (87.244%) or puncture feeling used alone (63.776%) (P<0.05). The area under the ROC curve of the combination of CEUS and puncture feeling (0.767) was significantly larger than that of CEUS (0.734) (P<0.05), or that of puncture feeling during FNAC (0.711) (P<0.05), respectively. However, there was no significant difference in the area under the ROC curve between CEUS and puncture feeling during FNAC in the diagnosis of PTC.Conclusions The combination of CEUS and puncture feeling during FNAC is more accurate in the diagnosis of PTC than either used alone.
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2021, Vol. 32 
