Efficacy and safety of percutaneous ultrasound-guided microwave ablation for cervical metastatic lymph nodes from papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: Our purpose is to assess the efficacy and safety of percutaneous US-guided microwave ablation (MWA) for cervical metastatic lymph nodes from papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC). Methods: In total, 37 patients with 98 cervical metastatic lymph nodes from PTC were enrolled in this retrospective study. Among them, 8 had subtotal thyroidectomy, 4 lobectomy, 2 no operation, and the rest total thyroidectomy. A multipoint and multiplane fixed ablation method was used. Monitoring of ablation process and clinical follow-up consisted of US or CEUS. Results: All 98 metastatic lymph nodes successfully treated in a single session with 100% complete ablation. The average longest and shortest diameter of the tumors were reduced from 13.21 ± 5.86 mm to 6.74 ± 5.66 mm (p =.00) and from 9.29 ± 4.09 mm to 4.31 ± 3.56 mm (p =.00) at the final follow-up. There were no evidence of recurrence at ablated sites. The common intraoperative complications were a burning sensation and pain. Only 3 patients had vagal reflex. Conclusions: US-guided MWA can effectively control cervical metastatic lymph nodes from PTC. MWA may become an alternative therapy in selected PTC patients with cervical lymph node metastasis.