ArticleGland surgery2026
Microwave ablation for low-risk papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: efficacy, safety, and prognostic factors.
Article in Gland surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) is generally indolent, but conventional surgery may be associated with procedure-related morbidity and impairment of thyroid function, while active surveillance may impose a psychological burden on some patients. Microwave ablation (MWA) has emerged as a minimally invasive alternative for selected low-risk PTMC. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MWA for PTMC and highly suspicious PTMC, and to explore the influence of different prognostic factors on treatment outcomes. Methods: In this retrospective study, 107 patients with PTMC or highly suspicious PTMC who underwent ultrasound-guided MWA were included. Changes in lesion size, volume reduction rate (VRR), thyroid function, complications, and follow-up outcomes were evaluated. Lesions were further categorized into complete absorption and incomplete absorption groups, and potential prognostic factors affecting treatment efficacy were analyzed. Results: All patients successfully underwent MWA. The ablation zones showed a characteristic pattern of transient enlargement at 1 month followed by progressive shrinkage thereafter; by 12 months, the maximum diameter (Dmax) was significantly smaller than the preoperative value (P<0.05). The median VRR improved from -895.8% at 1 month to 48.9% at 12 months (P<0.001), and 7 of 24 lesions achieved complete absorption by 12 months. Thyroid function parameters, including triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free T3 (FT3), free T4 (FT4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), remained generally within the normal range during follow-up. The overall incidence of adverse events was 6.54% (7/107), all of which were mild, with no major complications observed. No in-situ recurrence or new thyroid lesions were detected during follow-up, and the 5 cases of newly identified cervical lymphadenopathy showed no malignant ultrasonic features. Conclusions: MWA appears to be a feasible and safe minimally invasive treatment option for selected patients with low-risk PTMC, with favorable short-term efficacy, preservation of thyroid function, and a low complication rate. However, longer follow-up and comparative studies are still required to confirm its long-term oncological efficacy relative to surgery or active surveillance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.