Comparison of the Therapeutic Efficacy and Technical Outcomes between Conventional Fixed Electrodes and Adjustable Electrodes in the Radiofrequency Ablation of Benign Thyroid Nodules

ABSTRACT

Objective@#This study aimed to compare therapeutic efficacy and technical outcomes between adjustable electrode (AE) and conventional fixed electrode (FE) for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of benign thyroid nodules. @*Materials and Methods@#Between 2013 and 2021, RFA was performed on histologically proven benign thyroid nodules. For the AE method, AE length ≥ 1 cm with higher power and 0.99). AE demonstrated a shorter median RFA time (FE: 811 vs. AE: 627 seconds, P = 0.009). Both delivered comparable median energy (FE: 42.8 vs. AE: 29.2 kJ, P = 0.069), but AE demonstrated higher median ablated volume/energy and median ablated volume/time (FE: 0.2 vs. AE: 0.3 cc/kJ, P < 0.001; and FE: 0.7 vs. AE: 1.0 cc/min, P < 0.001, respectively). @*Conclusion@#Therapeutic efficacy between FE and AE was comparable. AE demonstrated better technical outcomes than FE in terms of RFA time, ablated volume/energy, and ablated volume/time.