Comparative Analysis of Computer-Aided Diagnosis and Computer-Assisted Subjective Assessment in Thyroid Ultrasound

The value of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) and computer-assisted techniques equipped with different TIRADS remains ambiguous. Parallel diagnosis performances of computer-assisted subjective assessments and CAD were compared based on AACE, ATA, EU, and KSThR TIRADS. CAD software computed the diagnosis of 162 thyroid nodule sonograms. Two raters (R-1 and R-2) independently rated the sonographic features of the nodules using an online risk calculator while blinded to pathology results. Diagnostic efficiency measures were calculated based on the final pathology results. R-1 had higher diagnostic performance outcomes than CAD with similarities between KSThR (SEN: 90.3% vs. 83.9%, p = 0.57; SPEC: 46% vs. 51%, p = 0.21; AUROC: 0.76 vs. 0.67, p = 0.02), and EU (SEN: 85.5% vs. 79%, p = 0.82; SPEC: 62% vs. 55%, p = 0.27; AUROC: 0.74 vs. 0.67, p = 0.06). Similarly, R-2 had higher AUROC and specificity but lower sensitivity than CAD (KSThR-AUROC: 0.74 vs. 0.67, p = 0.13; SPEC: 61% vs. 46%, p = 0.02 and SEN: 75.8% vs. 83.9%, p = 0.31, and EU-AUROC: 0.69 vs. 0.67, p = 0.57, SPEC: 64% vs. 55%, p = 0.19, and SEN: 71% vs. 79%, p = 0.51, respectively). CAD had higher sensitivity but lower specificity than both R-1 and R-2 with AACE for 114 specified nodules (SEN: 92.5% vs. 88.7%, p = 0.50; 92.5% vs. 79.3%, p = 0.02, and SPEC: 26.2% vs. 54.1%, p = 0.001; 26.2% vs. 62.3%, p < 0.001, respectively). All diagnostic performance outcomes were comparable for ATA with 96 specified nodules. Computer-assisted subjective interpretation using KSThR is more ideal for ruling out papillary thyroid carcinomas than CAD. Future larger multi-center and multi-rater prospective studies with a diverse representation of thyroid cancers are necessary to validate these findings.

Automated summary

The study compared the performance of computer-assisted diagnosis and subjective assessments in thyroid nodule diagnosis, finding that subjective assessments performed better than CAD. Future larger studies are needed to validate these findings.