Inappropriate Use of Thyroid Ultrasound Is Common in Clinical Practice

One third to half of the cases of thyroid cancer are small and asymptomatic papillary thyroid cancers that likely will not impact mortality (1,2). This high incidence and low mortality have been interpreted to be a result of overdiagnosis (i.e., the detection of subclinical cancers that will never progress to cause harm). This overdiagnosis seems to be mainly due to widespread ultrasound use, as it exposes a large reservoir of thyroid cancers that are likely clinically irrelevant; in fact, thyroid microcarcinomas are more to be detected by ultrasound than by other imaging methods (1). This systematic review and meta-analysis (3) aimed to evaluate the prevalence of unnecessary thyroid ultrasound prescriptions and to identify interventions to increase more appropriate use of this imaging method.