Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: A preoperative neck ultrasound (US) is recommended for all patients with suspected thyroid cancer, to identify features potentially changing surgical extent. The extrathyroidal extension (ETE) is considered an indication for total thyroidectomy, but there is limited consensus on its US definition, and the interobserver reliability is low. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of neck US for ETE before surgery and to estimate the diagnostic performance of different US findings, evaluated during real-time examinations.

Ultrasonography is currently used only to designate the pattern and location of venous lesions. Recent experiences demonstrated that the structure of the cutaneous and subcutaneous layers is clearly demonstrated by ultrasonography.

Verrucous hyperplasia of the skin (VHS) occurs rarely in legs with severe venous stasis. In these cases, sonography demonstrates thickening and hyperechogenicity of the skin layers. The core of the verrucous-like protrusions consisted of a fibrous lump of the reticular dermis, surrounded by an anechogenic layer and covered by a thickened epidermal shell. Compression treatment provokes the progressive disappearing of the dermal plications accompanied by reduction of the cutaneous and subcutaneous edema and infiltration.