ReviewJournal of therapeutic ultrasound2017
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of benign thyroid nodules - a systematic review.
Review in Journal of therapeutic ultrasound, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07384078 (HIFU vs. CRYO - High Intensity Focused Ultrasound vs. Cryotherapy in the Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinomas and Bowen's Disease - a Randomized Controlled Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 29 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
HIFU vs. CRYO - High Intensity Focused Ultrasound vs. Cryotherapy in the Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinomas and Bowen's Disease - a Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ablative Technologies for Thyroid Nodules: A Health Technology Assessment.Ontario health technology assessment series · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of HIFU for the treatment of benign thyroid nodules: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European radiology · 2024Pooled it
- Italian Guidelines for the Management of Non-Functioning Benign and Locally Symptomatic Thyroid Nodules.Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets · 2023Guideline
- Pooled it
- High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound in Dermatology: A Review with Emphasis on Skin Cancer Management and Prevention.Cancers · 2025Review
- Knowledge, attitudes, and willingness of patients with thyroid diseases toward thyroid thermal ablation techniques.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Overview of Therapeutic Ultrasound Applications and Safety Considerations: 2024 Update.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2025Review
- Ultrasound-mediated nanomaterials for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.Ultrasonics sonochemistry · 2025Review
- Precision oncology: The role of minimally-invasive ablation therapy in the management of solid organ tumors.World journal of radiology · 2025Review
- Brazilian Consensus on the Application of Thermal Ablation for Treatment of Thyroid Nodules: A Task Force Statement by the Brazilian Society of Interventional Radiology and Endovascular Surgery (SOBRICE), Brazilian Society of Head and Neck Surgery (SBCCP), and Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (SBEM).Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Article
- Hypnosis in High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Thyroid Nodule Ablation.The American journal of case reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Choice in Ablative Therapies for Thyroid Nodules.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2023Review
- Effects of Regional and General Anesthesia on the Therapeutic Outcome of Benign Thyroid Nodules Treated with High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU).World journal of surgery · 2022Article
- Treatment of Seborrheic Keratosis by High Frequency Focused Ultrasound - An Early Experience with 11 Consecutive Cases.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2022Article
- Image-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound, A Novel Application for Interventional Nuclear Medicine?Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2021Review
- High-frequency (20 MHz) high-intensity focused ultrasound: New ablative method for color-independent tattoo removal in 1-3 sessions. An open-label exploratory study.Skin research and technology : official journal of International Society for Bioengineering and the Skin (ISBS) [and] International Society for Digital Imaging of Skin (ISDIS) [and] International Society for Skin Imaging (ISSI) · 2020Article
- High-frequency (20 MHz) high-intensity focused ultrasound: New Treatment of actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, and Kaposi sarcoma. An open-label exploratory study.Skin research and technology : official journal of International Society for Bioengineering and the Skin (ISBS) [and] International Society for Digital Imaging of Skin (ISDIS) [and] International Society for Skin Imaging (ISSI) · 2020Article
- Contemporary Thyroid Nodule Evaluation and Management.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2020Review
- 2020 European Thyroid Association Clinical Practice Guideline for the Use of Image-Guided Ablation in Benign Thyroid Nodules.European thyroid journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWith an increasing number of imaging studies being done nowadays, the number of incidentally discovered thyroid nodules is expected to rise. Although many of these nodules are small and benign in nature, some do grow and may cause pressure and/or thyrotoxic symptoms. Surgical resection has traditionally been recommended for symptomatic nodules but is associated with risk of hypothyroidism, bleeding, infection, and nerve damage. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is one of the non-surgical thermal ablation techniques that may serve as an alternative in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules. The present review is to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of HIFU ablation.
methodsWe comprehensively searched all studies that evaluated the use of HIFU ablation as a treatment of benign thyroid nodules from Medline (PubMed) and Cochrane Library electronic databases using specific keywords. All titles identified by the search strategy were independently screened by two authors. Case reports, animal studies, editorials, expert opinions, reviews without original data and studies on pediatric population were excluded. Multiple reports of the same dataset were assessed and the most representative and updated report of a study was included.
resultsFive original studies were found. All treated thyroid nodules were confirmed to be benign cytologically and either appeared solid or predominantly (>70%) solid on ultrasonography. Only one type of commercially available US-guided device with an extracorporeal probe (3 MHz) was used in all the reported treatments. No major complications including recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, skin burn or haematoma were reported in all of the studies. The overall nodule volume reduction after single session of HIFU ablation ranged between 45 and 68%, depending on nodule size and length of follow-up.
conclusionsDespite the few number of studies, our review appeared to suggest that HIFU is a safe and efficacious method of treating symptomatic benign thyroid nodules. However, larger-scale, prospective trials with longer follow-up period are indeed required to confirm this. In terms of the ablation itself, relative to other ablation techniques, there are still much room for improvements in shortening treatment duration and expanding the range of treatable nodules.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.