Study population
thyroid lesions, dysphagia, voice, hoarseness, intraoperative or postoperative reactions, extrathy, hematoma, PTMC
DYSPHAGIA, NEUROLOGICAL COMPLICATION, HYPOPARATHYROIDISM, RECRUITMENT, LYMPH NODE METASTASIS, LEAKAGE, HEMATOMA, LYMPHATIC CYSTS
This retrospective study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine (SAHZU). The requirement for the informed consent from the patients was waived by the IRB of SAHZU, and all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) patients with a definitive biopsy-proven pathological diagnosis of PTMC; (2) patients who underwent RFA of thyroid lesions, without extrathy roidal invasion and no lymph node metastasis in former imaging studies; (3) patients who had undergone CEUS examinations before and after radiofrequency ablation; and (4) patients with complete 5-year clinical data. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) patients with a follow-up time less than 1 month or (2) patients with missing detailed case information. A total of 176 patients with cytopathologically confirmed PTMC were enrolled in the study between July 2015 and July 2017.Among the patients who underwent RFA surgery between 2015 and 2017, there were no cases of dysphagia, permanent hoarseness, hematoma, lymphatic cysts, chylous leakage, or neurological complications. One patient experienced temporary hypoparathyroidism, while two other patients had transient voice changes. Among the cases included in the study cohort based on the aforementioned inclusion and exclusion criteria, no adverse intraoperative or postoperative reactions were observed. The patient recruitment pathway is presented in Fig. 