Table 4.

Predictors of Increase in Size of Thyroid Bed Nodules

Clinical feature	Sensitivity	Specificity	PPV	NPV
Any suspicious feature in thyroid bed nodulea	0.80	0.52	0.12	0.97
Microcalcifications in thyroid bed nodule	0.74	0.56	0.28	0.90
Increased vascularity in thyroid bed nodule	0.75	0.54	0.21	0.93
Avascular thyroid bed nodule	0.19	0.47	0.30	0.87
Other abnormal cervical lymph nodes	0.74	0.53	0.17	0.94
Rising serum Tg	0.77	0.55	0.24	0.93
Combination of any suspicious features, other abnormal cervical lymph nodes, and rising serum Tg	0.88	0.31	0.11	0.96

^aSuspicious features defined as microcalcifications, hypoechogenicity, or increased vascularity in any thyroid bed nodule.

PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value.