Optimizing Thyroid Nodule Management With Artificial Intelligence: Multicenter Retrospective Study on Reducing Unnecessary Fine Needle Aspirations

Abstract Background Most artificial intelligence (AI) models for thyroid nodules are designed to screen for malignancy to guide further interventions; however, these models have not yet been fully implemented in clinical practice. Objective This study aimed to evaluate AI in real clinical settings for identifying potentially benign thyroid nodules initially deemed to be at risk for malignancy by radiologists, reducing unnecessary fine needle aspiration (FNA) and optimizing management. Methods We retrospectively collected a validation cohort of thyroid nodules that had undergone FNA. These nodules were initially assessed as “suspicious for malignancy” by radiologists based on ultrasound features, following standard clinical practice, which prompted further FNA procedures. Ultrasound images of these nodules were re-evaluated using a deep learning–based AI system, and its diagnostic performance was assessed in terms of correct identification of benign nodules and error identification of malignant nodules. Performance metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were calculated. In addition, a separate comparison cohort was retrospectively assembled to compare the AI system’s ability to correctly identify benign thyroid nodules with that of radiologists. Results The validation cohort comprised 4572 thyroid nodules (benign: n=3134, 68.5%; malignant: n=1438, 31.5%). AI correctly identified 2719 (86.8% among benign nodules) and reduced unnecessary FNAs from 68.5% (3134/4572) to 9.1% (415/4572). However, 123 malignant nodules (8.6% of malignant cases) were mistakenly identified as benign, with the majority of these being of low or intermediate suspicion. In the comparison cohort, AI successfully identified 81.4% (96/118) of benign nodules. It outperformed junior and senior radiologists, who identified only 40% and 55%, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) for the AI model was 0.88 (95% CI 0.85‐0.91), demonstrating a superior AUC compared with that of the junior radiologists (AUC=0.43, 95% CI 0.36‐0.50; P =.002) and senior radiologists (AUC=0.63, 95% CI 0.55‐0.70; P =.003). Conclusions Compared with radiologists, AI can better serve as a “goalkeeper” in reducing unnecessary FNAs by identifying benign nodules that are initially assessed as malignant by radiologists. However, active surveillance is still necessary for all these nodules since a very small number of low-aggressiveness malignant nodules may be mistakenly identified.