A comparative study of short-term efficacy and safety for thyroid micropapillary carcinoma patients after microwave ablation or surgery

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of the management of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTMC) using microwave ablation (MWA) or surgery. FNAC, fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Table 1. Patients’ characteristics and follow-up duration, by treatment.

	MWA	Surgery	p value
Number of patients	168	143	–
Mean age (range)	47.36 ± 10.75 (24–75)	49.18 ± 11.41 (26–76)	.185
Sex (M:F)	36:132	29:114	.804
Mean follow-up days (range)	753 ± 520 (79–1787)	824 ± 452 (46–2235)	.069

M: male; F: female; MWA: microwave ablation.

Table 2. Changes in mean tumor volume at each follow-up after microwave ablation.

Time	Mean ± SD	p value
Before treatment	81.60 ± 9.99
1 hour	828.86 ± 63.09	<.001^a
1 month	454.19 ± 45.86	<.001^a
3 month	221.11 ± 26.27	<.001^a
6 month	84.70 ± 12.90	<.001^a
9 month	37.47 ± 6.51	<.001^a
12 month	21.41 ± 4.02	<.001^a

^a Statistically significant.

Table 3. Recurrence, lymph node metastasis, and complications following thyroid lobectomy versus microwave ablation.

	MWA	Surgery	p value
Complications	7/168 (4.2%)	17/143 (11.9%)	<.001
Transient hypoparathyroidism	0	10/143 (7%)	<.001
Persistent hypoparathyroidism	0	0	NA
Transient voice change	6/168 (3.6%)	6/143 (4.2%)	.776
Persistent voice change	1/168 (0.6%)	1/143 (0.7%)	.909
Recurrence (%)
PTMC	2/168 (1.2%)	1/143 (0.7%)	.659
LNM (%)	5/168 (3.0%)	5/143 (3.5%)	.795
Total (%)	7/168 (4.2%)	6/143 (4.2%)	.990
Distance metastasis (%)	0	0	NA
Disease-specific mortality	0	0	NA

PTMC: papillary thyroid microcarcinoma; LNM: lymph node metastasis; NA: not applicable.

Figure 2. Disease-free survival curves show no statistically significant differences between the microwave ablation (MWA) and surgical groups during follow-up. Cum, cumulative.

Table 4. Number of remaining patients in the study groups throughout the 5+ year follow-up.

Group	Follow-up (years)						Total
	˂1	1–2	2–3	3–4	4–5	5+
MWA	18	59	34	33	24	0	168
Surgery	25	49	27	30	10	2	143

MWA: microwave ablation.