Efficacy and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation Performed by an Endocrinologist for Benign Thyroid Nodules

Tae Hyun Kim; Se-Mi Kim; Ah-Lon Jung; Seung Ki Moon; Dong Hoon Yang; Cheol Min Park; Shin Hyoung Jo; Dae Won Park; Seok Ho Seo; Seung Hyun Lee; Jong Taek Kim; Soonho Kim

doi:10.11106/ijt.2015.8.2.183

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Kim, Kim, Jung, Moon, Yang, Park, Jo, Park, Seo, Lee, Kim, and Kim: Efficacy and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation Performed by an Endocrinologist for Benign Thyroid Nodules

Original Article

Int J Thyroidol 2015;8(2):183-186.

Published online: 20 November 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11106/ijt.2015.8.2.183

Efficacy and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation Performed by an Endocrinologist for Benign Thyroid Nodules

Tae Hyun Kim^1,, Se-Mi Kim², Ah-Lon Jung², Seung Ki Moon², Dong Hoon Yang², Cheol Min Park², Shin Hyoung Jo², Dae Won Park², Seok Ho Seo², Seung Hyun Lee², Jong Taek Kim², Soonho Kim¹

¹Department of Endocrinology, Kwangju Christian Hospital, Gwangju, Korea

²Internal Medicine, Kwangju Christian Hospital, Gwangju, Korea

Correspondence: Tae Hyun Kim, MD, Department of Endocrinology, Kwangju Christian Hospital, 37 Yangrim-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 61661, Korea Tel: 82-62-650-5014, Fax: 82-62-650–5026, E-mail: lorang13@naver.com

Received 27 May 2015 Revised 17 August 2015 Accepted 21 August 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Radiofrequency ablation has recently been used for the treatment of benign thyroid nodules, with outstanding results. However, in most studies, the procedure was usually performed by a radiologist or surgeon. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency ablation for nodules ＞2 cm performed by an endocrinologist with several years of experience performing fine-needle aspiration cytology.

Materials and Methods

This study was a cross-sectional analysis of 111 patients who received radiofrequency ablation between April 2010 and July 2013. A total of 73 patients with 75 nodules ＞2 cm in diameter with at least 6 months of follow-up examinations were included.

Results

The mean follow-up period was 11.5 months. The mean nodule volume decreased from 17.0±15.3 mL preoperatively to 6.0±8.5 mL postoperatively, with a mean volume reduction of 69.7%. There were no major complications, and only 1 patient (1.3%) presented with a minor complication (hemorrhaging of the thyroid parenchyma).

Conclusion

Radiofrequency ablation is a safe method for reducing benign thyroid nodules, and is not associated with any major complications.

Keywords: Radiofrequency ablation, Thyroid, Benign, Nodule, Endocrinologist

References

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7. Baek JH, Moon WJ, Kim YS, Lee JH, Lee D. Radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of autonomously functioning thyroid nodules. World J Surg. 2009; 33(9):1971–7.

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15. Kim DW. Sonography-guided ethanol ablation of a remnant solid component after radio-frequency ablation of benign solid thyroid nodules: a preliminary study. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2012; 33(6):1139–43.

Table 1.

Changes in nodule size and volume during follow-up

	Initial	At 1 month	At 6 months	Last follow-up (mean, 11.5 months)
Number of nodules	75	74	52	75
Volume, mean (SD), mL	17.0 (15.3)	10.1 (9.7)	6.5 (9.6)	6.0 (8.5)
Largest diameter, mean (SD), cm	3.9 (1.0)	3.3 (1.0)	2.8 (1.2)	2.5 (1.2)
Volume reduction rate (%)		39.6	63.9	69.7

SD: standard deviation

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