Quantification of Initial Symptom Relief Following Ultrasound-Guided Radiofrequency Ablation of Benign Thyroid Nodules

The use of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of benign, symptomatic thyroid nodules is growing in clinical practice. Objective outcomes of symptom relief are needed to support the use of this treatment. Thus, a previously established thyroid nodule symptom scoring system was prospectively administered to patients prior to RFA of symptomatic thyroid nodules and then at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months following ablation.A total of 38 patients of mean age 57 years were treated with RFA between August 2022 and January 2024 and completed at least 1 follow-up survey. Five of these patients underwent simultaneous ablation of 2 thyroid nodules; the remainder had a single nodule treated. Mean modified symptom score prior to RFA was 3.5 (SD 1.6) with higher scores correlating with increasing baseline nodule volume (R = 0.46, P = 0.0038). Patient symptom scores decreased at the first 1-month survey (mean 1.2; SD 1.3) and 3-month survey (mean 0.9; SD 1.3) with durable response in those patients with more extended follow-up. In those patients with imaging follow-up, decreasing nodule size was shown to correlate with decreasing symptoms.The early results of this study show that RFA of benign, symptomatic thyroid nodules results in quantifiable symptom relief within 3 months of treatment. Such objective measures of symptom relief may be used to measure long-term durability of treatment.