Table 3.
Sensitivities and specificities of the TIRADS systems (TIRSYS) and investigators’ opinion (PERS) according to the cancer phenotypes to be found
| Cancer phenotype |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| allCA |
nPnT1PCA |
st2-4CA only |
||||
| sensitivity, % (CI)3 | specificity, % (CI)3 | sensitivity, % (CI)3 | specificity, % (CI)3 | sensitivity, % (CI)3 | specificity, % (CI)3 | |
| TIRSYS-A1 | 69.8 (67.6–72.1) | 30.0 (28.3–31.8) | 83.5 (80.9–85.9) | 33.6 (32–35.2) | 99.1 (97.5–99.8) | 32.7 (31.2–34.2) |
| TIRSYS-B1 | 86.7 (84.9–88.3) | 21.3 (19.7–22.9) | 90.5 (88.4–92.4) | 20.2 (18.8–21.6) | 99.7 (98.4–100) | 19.8 (18.6–21.1) |
| PERS2 | 87.2 (83.1–90.6) | 21.1 (17.7–24.8) | 92.6 (87.6–96) | 20.6 (17.6–23.8) | 98.6 (92.3–100) | 19.3 (16.6–22.3) |
| p (TIRSYS-A vs. PERS) (χ2) | <0.001 (41.8) | <0.001 (17.5) | 0.002 (9.4) | <0.001 (44.9) | 0.65 | <0.001 (55.3) |
| p (TIRSYS-B vs. PERS) (χ2) | 0.81 | 0.89 | 0.39 | 1.0 | 0.20 | 0.76 |
| p (TIRSYS-A vs. TIRSYS-B) (χ2) | <0.001 (139.1) | <0.001 (52.6) | <0.001 (18.8) | <0.001 (149.7) | 0.31 | <0.001 (169.2) |
In TIRSYS-A, the stricter suggestion of TIRADS was taken into account; FNA was indicated neither in nodules <1 cm nor in the very low-suspicion group of ATA. In TIRSYS-B, the permissive suggestions of TIRADS have been considered; FNA was indicated both in those subcentimeter nodules which belonged to the highest TIRADS category and in the very low-suspicion group of ATA if the nodule was >2 cm. allCA, all malignant lesions; nPnT1PCA, nonpapillary plus non-pT1 papillary cancers; st2-4CA, stage II-IV cancers; FNA, fine-needle aspiration; TIRADS, thyroid image reporting and data systems; ATA, American Thyroid Association.
TIRSYS means the combined results of TIRADS of 5 professional societies, that is, the AACE/ACE/AME [13], the ATA [12], the ACR [14], the ETA [15], and the KSTR [16],
Personal suggestions of the investigators.
CI means 95% confidence interval.