Thermal Ablation for Treatment of Benign Thyroid Nodules in Cirrhotic Patients

Benign thyroid nodules is a common disease. Microwave ablation (MWA) is a new non-invasive treatment of benign thyroid nodules. We assessed 30 benign thyroid nodules of 30 patients underwent microwave (MW) ablation and followed up for 6 months.  The patients were cirrhotic diagnosed by U/S and virology tests with sizable thyroid nodule exerting compressive and/or cosmetic problems with benignity results by cytology. MW ablation was performed using KY2000-A MWA generator., Canyon Medical, China. We evaluated the pre and post procedural three-dimension volume of thyroid nodules and clinical symptoms. The Aim of this study is to assess efficacy and safety of US-guided microwave (MW) ablation as a modality to treat sizable benign thyroid nodules.  The volume reduction ratio (%) of assessed thyroid nodules was significant by statistical analysis. The mean VRR ± SD was 39.2±11.6 at 1 month, 46.3±15.4 at 3 months and 51.3±16.9 at 6 months. P value was < 0.001. The microwave ablation had no effect on thyroid function of the 30 patients, 28 of them showed preprocedural normal thyroid function. The median of the compressive symptoms scoring was significantly decreased, it was 5 (IQR 5 – 6) at 1 month, 4 (IQR 3 – 5) at 3 months and 3 (IQR 2 – 3) at 6 months compared to 9 (IQR 7 – 9) before MW ablation, P value <0.001. Cosmetic problem scoring showed median of 3 (IQR 2 – 3) after1 month, 2 (IQR 1 – 2) after 3 months and 1 (IQR 1 – 1) after 6months compared to 4 (IQR 3 – 4) before treatment, P value <0.001. There were no life-threatening complications. Microwave ablation is considered an effective and safe modality used to reduce the benign thyroid nodules size and reduce the compressive and/or cosmetic problems.