SynthesisReviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders2022
Efficacy of radiofrequency and laser thermal ablation in solving thyroid nodule-related symptoms and cosmetic concerns. A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ablative Technologies for Thyroid Nodules: A Health Technology Assessment.Ontario health technology assessment series · 2026Pooled it
- Quality of Life Following Thermal Ablation of Benign Thyroid Nodules: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of HIFU for the treatment of benign thyroid nodules: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European radiology · 2024Pooled it
- Patient-Reported Symptom Relief from Percutaneous Benign Thyroid Nodule Radiofrequency Ablation in Routine Clinical Care.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2026Article
- The clinical utility of thermal ablation procedures in thyroid nodules: Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS) surgical affairs committee expert opinion. Part 2.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Review
- Thermal Ablation as a Non-Surgical Alternative for Thyroid Nodules: A Review of Current Evidence.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
- Ultrasound-guided Transperineal Prostate Thermal Ablation (TPTA) for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Feasibility of an Outpatient Procedure using Radiofrequency Ablation.Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2025Observational
- Psychological impacts of thermal ablation and conventional thyroidectomy in BTN patients: a prospective observational study.Endocrine · 2024Observational
- Proficiency in performing radiofrequency ablation procedure for non-functioning benign thyroid nodules: a qualitative rather than quantitative matter.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Factors Influencing a Favorable Outcome for RFA of Huge Benign Thyroid Nodules: Preliminary Results and Short-Term Evaluation.International journal of endocrinology · 2023Article
- Editorial: Recent Advances in Thyroid Surgery.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several studies have showed good/excellent results of thermal-ablation (TA) to reduce volume of benign thyroid nodule (TN). Nevertheless, no systematic review has reported information about clinical achievements with TA. Being the latter of high interest, this systematic review was undertaken to achieve high evidence about the efficacy of TA in reducing TN-related symptoms and cosmetic concerns. Radiofrequency (RFA) and laser (LA) therapies were considered. A comprehensive literature search of online databases was performed on January 2022 looking for studies reporting clinical results obtained by RFA or LA in terms of VAS (namely, Visual Analogic Scale) and cosmetic concerns. Initially, 318 records were found and 14 were finally included in the meta-analysis. VAS data were available in all RFA studies and the pooled mean reduction was of 3.09 points with significant heterogeneity. Cosmetic score data were available in 11 RFA studies and the pooled mean reduction was of 1.45 with significant heterogeneity. Regarding LA studies, 4 series reported VAS data and the pooled mean reduction was of 2.61 points with significant heterogeneity. The analysis of LA data about cosmetic concerns was not performed due to data paucity. Importantly, heterogeneities were not explained by meta-regression analyses using several covariates (i.e., baseline TN volume, follow-up duration, volume reduction rate). This systematic review showed that clinical data about TN TA efficacy are sparse and affected by high unexplained inconsistency. International societies should give indication about how we should clinically select and evaluate patients undergoing TN TA.
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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.