ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical value of real-time elastosonography in diagnosis of thyroid nodules. MethodsThe clinical date of 168 patients with thyroid nodules, admitted to our hospital from June 2009 to December, were retrospectively analyzed with pathological findings as the reference standard． The findings on elastography were classified into five grades: grade 0 to Ⅳ. The nodules with grade less than Ⅱ were diagnosed as benign, otherwise more than Ⅲ were diagnosed as malignancy. ResultsThere were 208 nodules in 168 patients: nodular goiter was in 125 cases, thyroid adenoma in 36 cases, thyroid malignant tumor in 41 cases including 39 cases for thyroid papillary carcinoma, 1 case for thyroid medullary carcinoma, 1 case for thyroid non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Other nodules were in 6 cases, including diffuse toxic goiter in 1 case, local lymphocytic thyroiditis in 3 cases, and subacute granulomatous thyroiditis in 2 cases. There were 148 thyroid nodules in grade 0-Ⅱ and 60 nodules in grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ. According to the pathological findings, 97.3%(144/148) thyroid nodules of grade 0-Ⅱ were benign, however, 38.3% (23/60) of grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ were benign. Furthermore, 2.7% (4/148) thyroid nodules of grade 0-Ⅱ were malignancy, while 61.7% (37/60) of grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ were malignancy. The sensitivity， specificity, and accuracy of the real-time elastosonography in diagnosis of thyroid nodules was 90.2%(37/41), 86.2%(144/167), and 87.0%(181/208), respectively. ConclusionReal-time elastosonography can reflect the relative hardness of thyroid nodules and provide useful information for diagnosis, which is helpful in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules.