Table 9 Risk scoring system of thyroid nodules on testing dataset in overall nodules

Benign

Low suspicion

Intermediate suspicion

High suspicion

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

34

5

3

4

15

54

17

179

87.2%

12.8%

42.9%

57.1%

21.7%

78.3%

8.7%

91.3%

LR

S_LR<l_c(0.486)

l_c≤S_LR<0.5

0.5≤S_LR<h_c(0.817)

S_LR≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

37

15

1

1

14

54

17

172

71.2%

28.8%

50.0%

50.0%

20.6%

79.4%

9.0%

91.0%

SVM

S_SVM<l_c(0.467)

l_c≤S_SVM<0.5

0.5≤S_SVM<h_c(0.863)

S_SVM≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

37

13

1

1

17

60

15

168

74.0%

26.0%

50.0%

50.0%

22.1%

77.9%

8.2%

91.8%

NET

S_NET<l_c(0.487)

l_c≤S_NET<0.5

0.5≤S_NET<h_c(0.854)

S_NET≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

37

16

0

1

14

54

18

171

69.8%

30.2%

0.0%

100.0%

20.6%

79.4%

9.5%

90.5%

ELM

S_ELM<l_c(0.409)

l_c≤S_ELM<0.5

0.5≤S_ELM<h_c(0.779)

S_ELM≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

35

11

0

0

20

61

14

172

76.1%

23.9%

—

—

24.7%

75.3%

7.5%

92.5%

KNN

S_KNN<l_c(0.466)

l_c≤S_KNN<0.5

0.5≤S_KNN<h_c(0.833)

S_KNN≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

39

12

0

0

14

70

16

160

76.5%

23.5%

—

—

16.7%

83.3%

9.1%

90.9%

NB

S_NB<l_c(0.391)

l_c≤S_NB<0.5

0.5≤S_NB<h_c(0.836)

S_NB≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

44

32

1

5

4

23

20

182

57.9%

42.1%

16.7%

83.3%

14.8%

85.2%

9.9%

90.1%

ADAB

S_ADAB<l_c(0.406)

l_c≤S_ADAB<0.5

0.5≤S_ADAB<h_c(0.560)

S_ADAB≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

20

9

21

22

10

24

18

187

69.0%

31.0%

48.8%

51.2%

29.4%

70.6%

8.8%

91.2%

LOG

S_LOG<l_c(0.498)

l_c≤S_LOG<0.5

0.5≤S_LOG<h_c(0.802)

S_LOG≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

34

17

0

0

17

47

18

178

66.7%

33.3%

—

—

26.6%

73.4%

9.2%

90.8%

LDA

S_LDA<l_c(0.464)

l_c≤S_LDA<0.5

0.5≤S_LDA<h_c(0.879)

S_LDA≥h_c

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

benign

malignancy

37

15

1

0

13

54

18

173

71.2%

28.8%

100.0%

0%

19.4%

80.6%

9.4%

90.6%

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