Abstract: Objective To compare the diagnosing value of American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System(ACR-TIRADS) and Chinese Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System(C-TIRADS) for thyroid nodules in the elderly patients. Methods Retrospective analysis was performed.A total of 71 elderly patients(including 97 nodules) with complete thyroid ultrasound images and surgical pathology in Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine were enrolled in this study. Ultrasound classification and fine needle aspiration(FNA) treatment recommendations were made according to ACR-TIRADS and C-TIRADS, and the diagnostic performance and recommended FNA rate of the two systems were compared. Results The pathological diagnosis as the gold standard,the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of ACR-TIRADS in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules in the elderly were 89.30%, 77.30%, 93.10%, 68.00% and 86.59%, respectively,compared with 89.30%, 68.20%, 90.50%, 65.20% and 84.54% of C-TIRADS(P>0.05). The overall recommended FNA rate, and the acupuncture rates of benign and malignant nodules of C-TIRADS were significantly higher than those of ACR-TIRADS(63.92%, 68.18%, 62.66% vs 21.65%, 22.73%, 21.33%, all P<0.05). Conclusions Both ACR-TIRADS and C-TIRADS have high diagnostic value for thyroid nodules in the elderly, while C-TIRADS has a higher recommended puncture rate.

Key words: thyroid nodules, aged, ultrasound, diagnosis