ACR Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS): White Paper of the ACR TI-RADS Committee
- Study type
- Clinical guideline
- Study name
- ACR TI-RADS
- Design
- Official committee report (White Paper) with expert recommendations; not a clinical trial
- Source
- Journal of the American College of Radiology · 2017
In plain words
Thyroid nodules (small lumps) are very common on neck ultrasound, and most of them are benign. The ACR TI-RADS system is a standard method radiologists use to assess nodules by how they look on ultrasound. The aim is to decide which nodules need a biopsy or follow-up with ultrasound and which do not. The final decision about biopsy or follow-up is made by your own doctor.
Study population
This document is not a clinical study and no specific patients were enrolled. The recommendations concern thyroid nodules, which are commonly seen on neck ultrasound.
Endpoints
This document has no statistical endpoints. Its aim is to provide guidance on managing thyroid nodules based on their ultrasound appearance (ultrasound-based risk stratification) to identify the nodules that need biopsy or sonographic follow-up.
Safety and side effects
According to the abstract, no safety or adverse-event data are reported; this document is an imaging guideline.
Clinical significance and place in guidelines
According to the abstract, this document presents the ACR committee's recommendations for managing thyroid nodules based on ultrasound appearance and builds on a standardised reporting lexicon. Details of the scoring, size thresholds for biopsy or follow-up and its impact on clinical practice are not given in the abstract and should be checked in the full text of the paper. Its adoption in other guidelines should also be checked separately.
Limitations
The abstract gives no information on how the recommendations were developed, the level of evidence or limitations. These should be checked in the full text of the paper. The authors also describe the committee's future directions.
This summary was prepared by the editorial team from the published paper; the original paper is the final reference. Read the original abstract on PubMed.