Abstract:

Objective To explore the values of peak systolic velocity (PSV) （PSV left, PSV right, PSV max, PSV min, and PSV mean）of the superior thyroid artery in differential diagnosis of Graves′ disease (GD) and Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). Methods 19 patients with GD, 18 patients with HT and 20 normal people were subjected to 2D and color Doppler ultrasound examination to obtain PSV of bilateral superior thyroid arteries and conclude the mean PSV of the two sides. Sensitivities and specificities of different types PSV in differential diagnosis of GD and HT were analyzed using ROC curves. Results There were statistic differences between any two groups in the value of PSVleft, PSVright,  PSVmax, PSVmin and PSVmean, but only the area under the curve of PSVmean and PSVmax was more than 0.9. Their cut-off points were 71cm/s and 85cm/s, and sensitivities and specificities were as follows: PSVmean：94.7%, 83.3%; PSVmax：89.5%, 88.9%. Conclusions PSVmax and PSVmean have high diagnostic accuracies. We can only measure one side PSV value when the first side is over 85cm/s and must measure both when the first side is below 85cm/s.

Key words: Ultrasonography; Blood flow velocity; Graves′ disease; Thyroiditis, autoimmune; Diagnosis, differential