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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1572535
Efficacy and Safety of Thermal Ablation for Bethesda III/IV Thyroid Nodules: A Retrospective Study Running head: Efficacy and Safety of TA for Bethesda III/IV Nodules
Provisionally accepted- China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
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To evaluate the efficacy and safety of thermal ablation (TA) for the treatment of Bethesda III and IV thyroid nodules.A retrospective analysis was conducted on 154 patients with Bethesda III (n = 82) and IV (n = 72) thyroid nodules treated with microwave or radiofrequency ablation between December 2016 and October 2023. Patients were followed for a median of 19 months.Outcomes assessed included nodule volume reduction rate (VRR), complications, and disease progression.The median VRR at 12 months was 97% (Bethesda III) and 88% (Bethesda IV), increasing to 100% and 96% by 36 months, respectively, with no significant differences between groups. No major complications were encountered, minor complications occurred in 4 patients (4/154, 2.6%), including 3 cases of transient hoarseness and 1 case of neck pain, resolving spontaneously. Disease progression (3/154, 1.9%) occurred in both groups, with new tumor in each group, no other disease progression occurred.Thermal ablation could be a safe, effective, and minimally invasive alternative to surgery for Bethesda III/IV thyroid nodules, achieving substantial volume reduction with minimal complications.
Keywords: 1, Thyroid Nodule 2, Thermal Ablation 3, Bethesda Classification 4, Ultrasonography 5
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wei, Zhao, Peng, Li and Yu. 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: Ming-an Yu, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
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