Comparison between microwave ablation and bipolar radiofrequency ablation in benign thyroid nodules: differences in energy transmission, duration of application and applied shots

AbstractPurpose: Comparison between different thermal ablation systems for thyroid nodules regarding their different procedural characteristics such as treatment-time, number of shots and energy transmission in the context of their clinical performance such as complication rate and volume reduction after three months.Methods: A total of 60 patients with 65 nodules underwent thermal ablation of thyroid nodules with either microwave ablation (MWA) (9 male, 15 female and mean age 57 ± 13 years) or radiofrequency ablation (RFA) (12 male, 24 female and mean age 54 ± 12 years).Results: Mean initial volume (MWA: 23.90 ± 17.35 ml; RFA: 29.44 ± 30.09 ml), energy transmission (MWA: 13.56 ± 10.17 kJ; RFA: 15.12 ± 13.45 kJ), energy transmission per ml (MWA: 0.85 ± 1.01 kJ/ml; RFA: 0.65 ± 0.32 kJ/ml), power (MWA: 22.69 ± 12.32 J/s; RFA: 20.97 ± 7.86 J/s) and duration of ablation (MWA: 618 ± 304 s; RFA: 695 ± 463 s) were not statistically different (p > .05). MWA required significantly less shots (MWA: 3 ± 1; RFA: 6 ± ...