Table 6.
Ultrasound image features for predicting the malignancy outcomes of lymph nodes deemed negative following EBUS-TBNA in the training and validation sets.
| Characteristics | Total (n = 317) | Training set (n = 224) | Validation set (n = 93) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-axis (median [IQR]) | 1.590 [1.300, 2.100] | 1.600 [1.295, 2.185] | 1.500 [1.300, 2.000] | 0.395 |
| Number of passes per node (median [IQR]) | 3.000 [2.000, 3.000] | 3.000 [2.000, 3.000] | 3.000 [2.000, 3.000] | 0.184 |
| Short-axis (%) | 0.597 | |||
| >1 cm | 203 (64.0%) | 146 (65.2%) | 57 (61.3%) | |
| ≤1 cm | 114 (36.0%) | 78 (34.8%) | 36 (38.7%) | |
| Long-axis/short-axis ratio (%) | 1.000 | |||
| ≥1.5 | 77 (24.3%) | 54 (24.1%) | 23 (24.7%) | |
| <1.5 | 240 (75.7%) | 170 (75.9%) | 70 (75.3%) | |
| Echo intensity (%) | 0.033 | |||
| Hyperechoic | 11 (3.5%) | 4 (1.8%) | 7 (7.5%) | |
| Hypoechoic | 298 (94.0%) | 215 (96.0%) | 83 (89.3%) | |
| Isoechoic | 8 (2.5%) | 5 (2.2%) | 3 (3.2%) | |
| Echogenicity (%) | 0.720 | |||
| Heterogeneous | 123 (38.8%) | 85 (38.0%) | 38 (40.9%) | |
| Homogeneous | 194 (61.2%) | 139 (62.0%) | 55 (59.1%) | |
| Margin (%) | 0.498 | |||
| Indistinct | 264 (83.3%) | 184 (82.1%) | 80 (86.0%) | |
| Distinct | 53 (16.7%) | 40 (17.9%) | 13 (14.0%) | |
| Blood flow (%) | 1.000 | |||
| Rich | 243 (76.7%) | 172 (76.8%) | 71 (76.3%) | |
| Lacking | 74 (23.3%) | 52 (23.2%) | 22 (23.7%) | |
| Fusion (%) | 0.616 | |||
| Absent | 256 (80.8%) | 183 (81.7%) | 73 (78.5%) | |
| Present | 61 (19.2%) | 41 (18.3%) | 20 (21.5%) | |
| Central hilar structure (CHS) (%) | 0.442 | |||
| Absent | 131 (41.3%) | 89 (39.7%) | 42 (45.2%) | |
| Present | 186 (58.7%) | 135 (60.3%) | 51 (54.8%) |