Efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow diagram for selection of studies.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics and quality assessment of the included studies.

Author	Year	Country	Research type	No. of patients	age	Gender (female/male)	NO. of PTMCs	Follow-up time (month)	MINORS score
Zhang [16]	2016	China	Prospective	92	44.7 ± 10.7	69/23	98	7.8 ± 2.9	16
Ding [17]	2019	China	Retrospective	37	45.1 ± 13.0	29/8	37	6 (1–18)	18
Wu [18]	2020	China	Retrospective	198	42.5 ± 9.5	141/57	204	25.9 ± 4.5	16
Cho [19]	2020	Korea	Retrospective	74	46.0 ± 12.0	66/8	84	72.0 ± 18.0	16
Zhu [20]	2021	China	Retrospective	102	43.0 ± 19.0	82/20	109	48.0 ± 18.0	18
He [21]	2021	China	Retrospective	95	66.0 ± 4.4	71/24	95	36.6 ± 16.6	17
Lim [22]	2021	China	Prospective	12	51.2 (37–67)	10/2	13	16.2 ± 8.1	18
Song [23]	2021	China	Retrospective	112	44.9 ± 10.6	94/18	112	30.2 ± 13.9	19
Zhang [24]	2021	China	Retrospective	133	45.8 ± 9.9	97/36	133	6.5 ± 5.0	18
Yan [25]	2021	China	Retrospective	424	43.6 ± 9.6	329/95	424	48.1 ± 18.4	19

Figure 2. Changes in the tumor volume after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 3. VRRs after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 4. CDRs after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 5. Tumor progression rate after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 6. Incidence of complications including total, minor and major complications after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 7. Incidence of different kinds of complication after RFA treatment of PTMC.

Figure 8. Funnel plot constructed based on the analysis of the tumor progression rate.

Figure 9. Funnel plot constructed based on the analysis of the incidence of complication.

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