Analysis of vascularization in thyroid gland nodes with superb microvascular imaging (SMI) and CD34 expression histology: a pilot study

Table 4 Spearman correlations between vascularization areas determined from CD34-stained images and those determined from SMI measurements

Parameters	Spearman correlation coefficient (r) p-values
Parameters	CD34 100 fold	CD34 25 fold	CD34 all
ROI longitudinal	0.14706	0.05882	0.07353
	0.5868	0.8287	0.7867
ROI longitudinal area fraction (%)	0.10882	− 0.00294	0.03824
	0.6883	0.9914	0.8882
ROI cross	− 0.11765	− 0.34118	− 0.28824
	0.6643	0.1959	0.2790
ROI cross area fraction (%)	− 0.34412	− 0.39412	− 0.38824
	0.1919	0.1309	0.1373
Quotient longitudinal	0.40588	0.49118	0.43235
	0.1188	0.0534	0.0944
Quotient longitudinal area fraction (%)	0.55588	0.52353	0.52941
	0.0254	0.0374	0.0350
Quotient cross	0.07941	0.06765	0.03824
	0.7700	0.8034	0.8882
Quotient cross area fraction (%)	0.06786	− 0.06071	− 0.01429
	0.8101	0.8298	0.9597
Quotient all	0.11429	− 0.02857	− 0.06071
	0.6851	0.9195	0.8298
Quotient all area fraction (%)	0.08571	− 0.03214	− 0.07500
	0.7613	0.095	0.7905

CD34 100 fold: the mean CD34-stained area measured in four specific rectangular regions selected in the 100× magnified microscope image; CD34 25 fold area: the CD34-stained area measured in a rectangular region selected in the 25× magnified image; CD34 all area: The average of the mean CD34-stained areas measured in the 100× and 25× magnified microscope images; ROI: region of interest; longitudinal: longitudinal view of the ROI; area fraction: fraction of the area with blood flow compared to the total ROI area; cross: cross-sectional view of the ROI; Quotient: the indicated parameter measured in the thyroid gland lesion area (ROI-A) divided by the same parameter measured in the parenchymal tissue adjacent to the lesion (ROI-B); all: the quantified vascularization values measured in the nodal area of ROI-total, divided by their counterparts measured in the parenchymal area, near the node in the same ROI

ISSN: 1471-2342