Prevalence of unsuspected thyroid nodules in adults on contrast enhanced 16- and 64-MDCT of the chest

Table 1 Location of the 629 nodules identified on chest computed tomography n (%)

	Upper pole	Mid gland	Lower pole	Total
Right	72	120	90	282 (45)
Left	47	138	134	319 (51)
Isthmus				28 (5)
	119 (19)	258 (41)	224 (36)	629 (100)

Table 2 Characterization of the thyroid gland on intravascular contrast enhanced computed tomography in 2510 patients

Characterize	Frequency	Percent
No nodule	1790	71.3
Enlarged but no nodule	91	3.6
Solitary nodule	387	15.4
Multiple nodules (no dominant)	143	5.7
Multiple nodules (dominant)	99	3.9

Table 3 Distribution of nodules in patients who had entire thyroid imaged vs all patients n (%)

Location	Whole thyroid imaged	All patients
Upper pole	81 (24)	119 (20)
Interpolar pole	124 (37)	258 (43)
Lower pole	131 (39)	224 (37)

The pattern of distribution was significantly different; although, interpolar and lower pole location was most common in both groups.