Treatment of Benign Cold Thyroid Nodule: Efficacy and Safety of US-guided Percutaneous Ethanol Injection

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Us-guided percutaneous ethanolinjection for the treatment of benign cold thyroid nodules. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients withbenign cold thyroid nodules (volume of each at least 2ml proven by PCNA to be adenomatous hyperplasia, and coldnodule by thyroid scan) underwent a total of one to three percutaneous ethanol injections (PEI) at intervals ofone or two months. The mean amount of ethanol used was 6.2(range, 1.5-8)ml, depending on the volume of the nodule. Follow up ultrasonography was performed one to four months after the final session. RESULTS: The initial volumeof nodules was 11.4+/-4.1(range, 2.5-41.4)ml, and in all cases this fell by 56.1+/-22.3%(range, 10.9-92.1%);in allcases, follow-up ultrasonography showed that echogeneity was lower and its pattern was heterogeneous. Trere wereno important longstanding complications; the most common side effect was acute pain at the injection site(n=9),and in one case, transient vocal cord palsy occurred. CONCLUSION: our results show that US-guided percutaneousinjection of ethanol is an effective and a safe procedure for the treatment of benign cold thyroid nodules, and isthus an alternative to surgery of hormone therapy.