Ultrasound-guided Percutaneous Microwave Ablation Of Thyroid Nodules: A Clinical Study

Objective:To explore availability, safety, efficacy, clinical outcomes and to gain operation experiences of thyroid nodules treated by ultrasound-guided microwave ablation, with an attempt to offer an alternative approach to minimally invasive surgery for thyroid nodules. Methods:From May 2013 to April 2015 in our hospital outpatient and ward,a total of 86 patients with 156 thyroid nodules were selected and the Number, location,volume and sizes of the 156 nodules were recorded after accepting conventional ultrasound. All nodes received ultrasound guided microwave ablation therapy before identified as benign by fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC)。 The responses was evaluated by complete ablation rate according to the contrast- enhanced ultrasonography(CEUS) after ablation, followed by the re-evaluations on the changes of these nodules as well as the complications at the 1,3,6,12 months later。A total of 96 patients with benign thyroid nodules were selected as control group during the same period in our hospital surgery which accepted routine thyroid surgical treatment and the number of comparative analysis of two groups of patients with postoperative complications, surgical time > 30 min number, the number of hospitalized time > 7 days, postoperative neck scar > 0.5 cm and proportion as the number of thyroid hormone recovery. Results:The immediate complete ablation rate reached 97.4%, only 4 out of 156 nodules need the second ablation. The volume of nodules decreased by20.98%,45.37%,75.12% and 86.3% at 1,3,6,12 months after ablation, respectively, and 14.7%(23/156) of nodules disappeared 6 to 12 months after ablation. The observation group of patients with thyroid hormone recovery percentage was higher than the control group, the number of postoperative complications, surgical time > 30 min number, the number of hospitalized time > 7 days, proportion of the number of postoperative neck scar > 0.5 cm are lower than the control group, significant difference statistically significant(P < 0.05). Conclusion:1 The ultrasound-guided microwave ablation is effective and the immediate complete ablation rate is high.2 The volume of nodules decreased after ablation and some of them disappeared at last.3 The ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation is an valuable alternative therapy for the treatment of thyroid nodules, with the advantages of good responses, aesthetic appearance, less complications and shorter operation duration.