Effects of energy-based ablation on thyroid function in treating benign thyroid nodules: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background

Whether thyroid function would be affected by ablation remains controversial. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effects of energy-based ablation on thyroid function in treating benign thyroid nodules.

Methods

EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched. The mean difference (MD) or standard MD (SMD) was applied to assess changes in thyroid function, thyroglobulin (Tg), and antibodies after ablation. RevMan version 5.3 was used for data synthesis.

Results

Forty-two studies involving 6380 patients were eligible. The pooled results revealed significant decrease of 1-day thyroid-stimulating hormone (95% CI, −0.67 to −0.14), significant increase of 1-day, 1-week, and 1-month free thyroxine (95% CI, 1.57 to 5.28; 95% CI, 0.61 to 2.42; 95% CI, −0.76 to −0.15), 1-day and 1-week Tg level (95% CI, 0.40 to 0.81; 95% CI, 0.21 to 1.29), 6-month anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.26), 1- and 3-month thyroperoxidase antibody (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.22; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.43), and 1-day, 1-, and 3-month thyrotrophin receptor antibody (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.43; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.30; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.36) after ablation. No statistically significant differences were found in these six indicators in the longer term. The results of subgroup analysis were similar to the pooled results. No significant publication bias was found.

Conclusions

Energy-based ablation was more likely to have negative effects on thyroid function and antibodies and led to transient increase in Tg level in the short term. However, most of the patients would not develop any thyroid dysfunction in the long-term follow-up.

Keywords:

• Energy-based ablation
• thyroid function
• thyroglobulin
• thyroid antibody
• benign thyroid nodule

Consent

The authors obtained consent from participants to participate in the study and to publish their data. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data collected to support the findings of this study are included within the article.