Table 5 Risk scoring system of thyroid nodules on the testing dataset

RF

S_RF<l_c(0.265)

l_c≤S_RF<0.5

0.5≤S_RF<h_c(0.784)

S_RF≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

16

0

12

2

13

18

9

220

100%

0%

75.7%

14.3%

41.9%

58.1%

3.9%

96.1%

LR

S_LR<l_c(0.267)

l_c≤S_LR<0.5

0.5≤S_LR<h_c(0.838)

S_LR≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

23

1

10

6

10

17

7

216

95.8%

4.2%

62.5%

37.5%

37.0%

63.0%

3.1%

96.9%

SVM

S_SVM<l_c(0.277)

l_c≤S_SVM<0.5

0.5≤S_SVM<h_c(0.850)

S_SVM≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

23

4

5

3

15

21

7

212

85.2%

14.8%

62.5%

37.5%

41.7%

58.3%

3.2%

96.8%

NET

S_NET<l_c(0.300)

l_c≤S_NET<0.5

0.5≤S_NN<h_c(0.820)

S_NET≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

26

1

11

6

7

16

7

217

96.3%

3.7%

64.7%

35.3%

30.4%

69.6%

3.1%

96.9%

ELM

S_ELM<l_c(0.352)

l_c≤S_ELM<0.5

0.5≤S_ELM<h_c(0.783)

S_ELM≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

22

1

5

5

18

26

5

208

95.7%

4.3%

50.0%

50.0%

40.9%

59.1%

2.3%

97.7%

KNN

S_KNN<l_c(0.305)

l_c≤S_KNN<0.5

0.5≤S_KNN<h_c(0.864)

S_KNN≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

23l

2

8

1

12

33

7

204

92.0%

8.0%

88.9%

11.1%

26.7%

73.3%

3.3%

96.7%

NB

S_NB<l_c(0.188)

l_c≤S_NB<0.5

0.5≤S_NB<h_c(0.869)

S_NB≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

32

9

2

5

9

19

7

207

78.0%

22.0%

28.6%

71.4%

32.1%

67.9%

3.3%

96.7%

ADAB

S_ADA<l_c(0.286)

l_c≤S_ADA<0.5

0.5≤S_ADA<h_c(0.614)

S_ADA≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

10

0

22

8

3

14

15

218

100.0%

0.0%

73.3%

26.7%

17.6%

82.4%

6.4%

93.6%

LOG

S_LOG<l_c(0.317)

l_c≤S_LOG<0.5

0.5≤S_LOG<h_c(0.820)

S_LOG≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

18

1

13

4

15

27

7

205

94.7%

5.3%

76.5%

23.5%

35.7%

64.3%

3.3%

96.7%

LDA

S_LDA<l_c(0.256)

l_c≤S_LDA<0.5

0.5≤S_LDA<h_c(0.958)

S_LDA≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

27

2

4

2

13

24

6

212

93.1%

6.9%

66.7%

33.3%

35.1%

64.9%

2.8%

97.2%

Management

After a 6-month

After 3-month

FNA biopsy

of thyroid

sonographic

sonographic follow-up

FNA biopsy

or surgical

nodules

follow-up

or FNA biopsy

treatment