Ultrasound imaging - also called ultrasonography - involves examining your thyroid with high-frequency sound waves that are transferred back to the computer and rendered to produce pictures of the inside of your neck. Ultrasound examinations are harmless and do not use ionizing radiation (as it is used in x-rays). Because ultrasound imaging is performed in real-time, imaging can also show blood flowing through blood vessels and dynamic movements of different structures in the neck (like muscular contractions, swallowing act etc.).
The thyroid gland is located in the middle of the neck (above the trachea) and is shaped like a butterfly. It is an endocrine gland, which produces and releases hormones into the bloodstream. The thyroid hormones help to regulate a variety of body metabolic functions.
About 5 to 10 percent of adults may have lumps in their thyroid that can be palpated on physical exam. Ultrasound is much more sensitive than a physical exam and is able to show much smaller nodules that cannot be felt by palpation. In adult women, thyroid gland nodules can be found on ultrasound in 30 to 40 percent of cases!!
Fortunately, the vast majority of these nodules are just benign changes that pose no health risk. The minority could be true cancers of the thyroid and may require further diagnosis or treatment. Regular ultrasound examinations may discover these cancers in the earliest stages when they are just couple of millimeters in diameter and can be completely cured with minimally invasive surgical approaches!
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