High-frequency ultrasound examination of the thyroid was performed in 253 subjects (130 women and 123 men; age range, 19-50 years) that were randomly selected from the population in an area of Finland where goiter is not endemic. Thyroid echo abnormalities were detected in 69 subjects (27.3%). Prevalence of abnormalities increased with age, and women showed more lesions than did men in each of the 3 decades. The abnormality was solitary in 39 subjects (57%), multiple in 15 (22%), and diffuse in 15 (22%). Of the 68 individual nodules, 48 (70%) were smaller than 1 cm in diameter. Anechoic rounded nodules 1-5 mm in diameter were found in 28 subjects. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy was performed in 30 subjects. Cytologic examination revealed no unequivocal malignancies. In eight subjects (3.2%) with a diffuse echo abnormality, cytologic evaluation indicated lymphocytic thyroiditis. It is concluded that the prevalence of small thyroid echo abnormalities in a randomly selected adult population is rather high, a fact that supports use of a conservative approach to these types of findings.

Thyroid US abnormalities occurring in a random adult population are predominantly benign and clinically unimportant.

No abstract

No abstract

In a prospective series of 72 patients, clinical and ultrasonographic examination of the thyroid gland were compared in detail. Normal-sized lobes were differentiated from enlarged ones both by inspection and by palpation. When lobar size was assessed by palpation, the estimate was most clearly influenced by increase in width. The correlation between two examiners in lobe size assessment was significant. In the classification of thyroid disease as diffuse, solitary, or multinodular, clinical examination and ultrasonography correlated significantly. However, only one third of the clinically solitary nodules proved to be solitary by ultrasound examination. Of 77 separate nodules, 43 escaped detection on clinical examination. Of these 43, 14 nodules exceeded 2 cm in diameter. It is concluded that the use of ultrasonography frequently alters the primary evaluation of thyroid nodularity based on palpation.