ObjectiveTo explore value of shear wave elastography（SWE）in the diagnosis of thyroid benign and malignant nodules and its prediction value of invasiveness of malignant nodules.MethodsA total of 230 patients with thyroid nodules confirmed by surgery and pathology were retrospectively analyzed

which were divided into malignant group（n=122）and benign group（n=108）.All patients underwent SWE examination.The maximum Young’s modulus（Emax）

average value（Emean）

minimum value（Emin）of nodules and the elastic ratio of nodules to surrounding normal tissues（Eratio）were recorded and compared between the two groups.Receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve was drawn to determine the cut-off value of Young’s modulus in predicting benign and malignant thyroid nodules

and the diagnostic efficacy was calculated. Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between cervical lymph node metastasis and Young’s modulus.Results There were statistically significant differences in Emax

Emean and Eratio between malignant group and benign group（all P<0.05）

and there was no statistically significant difference in Emin.ROC curve analysis showed that when the cut-off values of Emax

Emean and Eratio were 57 kPa

39 kPa and 2.7 respectively

the corresponding areas under the curve were 0.877

0.776 and 0.866 respectively

and the area under the curve of Emax was the largest.Logistic regression analysis showed that cervically mphnode metastasis of malignant thyroid nodules was correlated with nodule size

Emax and Eratio（all P<0.05）

and the metastatic lymph nodes were mostly located in the central region.Conclusion SWE has a certain significance in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodule

and Emax has the highest diagnostic efficiency. Emax and Eratio can be used as predictors of lymph node metastasis of thyroid malignant nodules.