Summary: | Precise diagnosis of thyroid nodules is challenging due to non-diagnostic/inconclusive results and uncertainties about the malignancy of follicular neoplasms (FNs), even in frozen-section pathology. Therefore, surgical management, especially in Bethesda III and IV categories, may be complicated, and sometimes a second surgery may be required. The Thyroid Nodule Impedance Measurement System (TN-IMS) consists of a metallic patch attached to submental skin and a G20 I.V. cannula inserted into the targeted nodules. Two impedance-based parameters named Z<sub>1kHz</sub> and impedance phase slope (IPS) in 100 kHz to 500 kHz of the thyroid nodules are recorded and compared with their histopathological results as the gold standard. TN-IMS was intra-surgically applied to 103 human thyroid nodules and normal thyroid tissues. A remarkable consistency between defined co-ranges of Z<sub>1kHz</sub>/IPS and the histopathological status of specimens was achieved (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Based on these measurements, it was concluded that intraoperative bioelectrical impedance scanning of thyroid nodules would be a helpful complementary approach to detecting high-risk excision-required thyroid nodules.
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