A 6-year single-center prospective follow-up study of the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation for thyroid nodules.

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an alternative modality for thyroid nodules (TNs) and many studies have also confirmed its favorable efficacy and safety. The scope of RFA increases in clinical practice and the aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of RFA. Methods: We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of RFA for thyroid nodules between January 2017 and December 2022 at our institution. We assessed the change in nodal volume, volume reduction ratio (VRR), technique effective (TE) rate, complete ablation (CA) rate, and nodal regrowth rate and time after RFA. Results: We performed RFA for 1703 patients with TNs between January 2017 and December 2022, of which a total of 970 eligible patients were enrolled in the study. The preoperative volume of TNs was 6.23 ± 8.11ml, with 821 benign and 149 malignant nodules. The post-RFA TE and adjusted TE rate were 80% and 88.8%, respectively. CA was achieved in 145 (14.9%) patients with a mean time of 18.32± 12.98 months; nodal regrowth occurred in 15 (1.5%) patients with a mean time of 29.80 ± 12.47 months. TNs volume and VRR changed significantly at years 1 and 2 after RFA and stabilized after 5 years. A serious postoperative adverse event occurred in one patient with cervical sympathetic chain injury resulting in Horner's syndrome. A transient or permanent damage of the recurrent laryngeal nerve could not be evaluated due to the lack of postoperative laryngoscopy, and this is a significant limitation of the study. Conclusion: The expanded RFA indications were also effective for TNs, with no significant change in long-term efficacy.

Clinical research of mastoscopic axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection(areport of 36 cases) / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective To approach the feasibility and reliability of mastoscopic axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection. Methods By using methylene blue to test the axillary sentinel lymph node, endoscopic axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection were performed in 36 patients with breast cancer, and adenomammectomy was performed to all the patients. Results Among the 36 patients, the SLN detection rate was 97.22% (35/36), the sensitivity was 92.86% (13/14), the accuracy rate was 97.14% (34/35), the false negative rate was 7.14%(1/14). The average ALN number was 16.14. Conclusions Mastoscopic axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection are accurate and reliable with little complication. It is easy to use in clinic.