Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association
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Background: Accurate preoperative prediction of cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) provides a basis for surgical decision-making and the extent of tumor resection. This study aimed to develop and validate an ultrasound radiomics nomogram for the preoperative assessment of LN status. Methods: Data from 147 PTC patients at the Wuhan Tongji Hospital and 90 cases at the Hunan Provincial Tumor Hospital between January 2017 and September 2019 were included in our study. ⋯ Decision curve analysis indicated that the SWE radiomics nomogram was clinically useful. Furthermore, the nomogram also showed favorable discriminatory efficacy in the US-reported LN-negative (cN0) subgroup (AUC 0.812 [CI 0.745-0.860]). Conclusions: The presented radiomics nomogram, which is based on the SWE radiomics signature, shows a favorable predictive value for LN staging in patients with PTC.