A Comparative Study Between Thyroid Surgeries and Image Guided Thyroid Ablation in Benign Thyroid Nodules – A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Background Nodular thyroid disease is very common in clinical practice, discovered by palpation in 3 to 7% and by ultrasound (US) in about 50% of the general population. The aim of this work to compare and evaluate the indications, efficacy, morbidity and post-operative complications of Image Guided Ablation in comparison to thyroid Surgeries Methods This study involved a systematic review with a meta-analysis conducted on English-language retrospective or prospective studies available on PubMed from the past 5 years. Focused on patients aged 18 years or older who had undergone either thyroid surgery or image-guided thyroid ablation. Patients were categorized into two distinct groups: Group A undergone thyroid surgery, and Group B, undergone image-guided thyroid ablation Results There was a significant difference regarding age and nodule volume of the two groups. with insignificant difference regarding sex and nodule parameter. Incidence of hoarseness and postoperative pain were significantly lower in the thermal ablation (TA) group than in the conventional thyroidectomy group. No heterogeneity with hoarseness while a significant heterogeneity was in postoperative pain. Incidence of hypothyroidism was not significantly lower in the TA group than in the conventional thyroidectomy group with a significant heterogeneity. In terms of symptom improvement, the difference was insignificant with low heterogeneity. TA yielded significantly better postoperative cosmetic effects than conventional thyroidectomy with no heterogeneity, also associated with a shorter hospitalization time with a significant high heterogeneity Conclusions TA may be a favorable alternative to thyroidectomy, offering comparable outcomes with reduced morbidity and improved cosmetic satisfaction