Viscosity Plane-Wave UltraSound (Vi PLUS) in the Evaluation of Thyroid Gland in Healthy Volunteers—A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Viscosity and elasticity represent biomechanical properties of soft tissues that suffer changes during the pathophysiological alterations of the tissue in various conditions. This study aimed to determine average viscosity values for the thyroid gland and to evaluate the potential influences of age, gender and body mass index (BMI), using a recent technique Viscosity Plane-wave UltraSound (Vi PLUS). A total of 85 healthy Caucasian volunteers (56 women and 29 men, median age of 29 years, range 17–81 years) were included in this prospective monocentric study conducted between January 2022 and March 2022. Thyroid viscosity was measured using the SuperSonic MACH 30® Ultrasound system (Aixplorer, SuperSonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France), equipped with a curvilinear C6-IX transducer that allows simultaneous quantification of the viscosity and stiffness. The mean thyroid viscosity measurement value was 2.63 ± 0.47 Pa.s. No statistically significant differences were detected between the left and the right lobes of the thyroid gland. A significant positive correlation was found between thyroid viscosity and elasticity (r = 0.685, p < 0.0001). There was no statistically significant correlation between body mass index (BMI) and thyroid gland viscosity and elasticity values (r = 0.215, p = 0.053; r = 0.106, p = 0.333). No correlation between viscosity and gender was established (p > 0.05). Vi PLUS represents a new and promising ultrasonographic technique that can provide helpful information for evaluating the thyroid parenchyma, similar to elastography. The effect of the potential confounding factors on thyroid viscosity was negligible, except for BMI.