To confirm the efficacy of ultrasound (US) guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules, we evaluated as primary outcome the technical efficacy and clinical success in a single center dataset. The secondary outcome was to find a correlation between nodules’ pre-treatment features and volume reduction rate (VRR) ≥75% at 12 months after RFA and during follow-up period.
This retrospective study included 119 consecutive patients (99 females, 20 males, 51.5 ± 14.4 years) with benign thyroid nodules treated in our hospital between October 2014 and December 2018 with a mean follow-up of 26.8 months (range 3–48). Clinical and US features before and after RFA were evaluated by a US examination at 1, 3, 6, 12 months and annually thereafter up to 48 months.
The median pre-treatment volume was 22.4 ml; after RFA we observed a statistically significant volume reduction from the first month (11.7 ml) to the last follow-up (p < 0.001 for all follow-up times). The median VRR was 47.1, 55.3, 61.2, 67.6, 72.8, 71.3, and 62.9% at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, and 48 months of follow-up respectively, showing a progressive significant improvement up to 24 months (VRRs 1
This study confirmed the efficacy of RFA in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules. In particular we show that by selecting macrocystic nodules smaller than 22.4 ml better long-term response can be achieved, which is predicted by an early shrinkage of the nodule.