ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pathology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1634976
This article is part of the Research TopicEvaluating Foundation Models in Medical ImagingView all 4 articles
ChatGPT-4 Vision: A Promising Tool for Diagnosing Thyroid Nodules
Provisionally accepted
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
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Objective:This study aims to evaluate the application of ChatGPT-4 Vision in the ultrasonic image analysis of thyroid nodules by comparing its diagnostic efficacy and consistency with those of sonographers.:In this prospective study, conducted in real clinical scenarios, we included 124 patients with pathologically confirmed thyroid nodules who underwent ultrasound examinations at Fujian Medical University Affiliated Second Hospital. A physician, not involved in the study, collected three ultrasound images for each nodule: the maximum cross-sectional, maximum longitudinal, and the section best representing the nodular characteristics. The images were analyzed by the primed ChatGPT-4 Vision and classified according to the 2020 Chinese Guidelines for Ultrasound Malignancy Risk Stratification of Thyroid Nodules (C-TIRADS).Two sonographers with different qualifications (a resident physician and an attending physician) used the same images to classify the nodules according to the C-TIRADS guidelines.Using fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy or surgical pathology results as the gold standard, we compared the consistency and diagnostic efficacy of the primed ChatGPT-4 Vision with those of the sonographers.Results:(1) ChatGPT-4 Vision diagnosed thyroid nodules with a sensitivity of 86.2%, specificity of 60.0%, and an AUC of 0.731, which was comparable to the resident's sensitivity of 85.1%(95% CI: 77.2%-90.8%), specificity of 66.7%(95% CI: 53.7%-77.7%), and AUC of 0.759 (p > 0.05), but lower than the attending physician's sensitivity of 97.9% (95% CI: 93.2%-99.5%) ,specificity of 80.0% (95% CI: 67.7%-88.6%), and AUC of 0.889 (95% CI: 81.5%-96.4%) (p < 0.05). ( 2) the primed ChatGPT-4 Vision demonstrated good consistency with the resident in thyroid nodule classification (Kappa value = 0.729), though its consistency with the pathological diagnosis was lower than that of the attending physician (Kappa values of 0.457 vs. 0.816, respectively).The primed ChatGPT-4 Vision demonstrates promising clinical utility in thyroid nodule risk stratification, achieving diagnostic performance comparable to resident physicians. Its ability to standardize image analysis aligns with precision medicine goals, offering a foundation for future integration with dynamic ultrasound modalities to enhance pathological correlation
Keywords: thyroid nodules, ultrasound, ChatGPT, diagnosis, Pathology
Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hong, Huang, Zhong and Lyu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Daorong Hong, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
Guo-Rong Lyu, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
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