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Updated: Oct 25, 2025
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Clinical outcomes of radiofrequency ablation for multifocal papillary thyroid microcarcinoma versus unifocal
Lin Yan1, Mingbo Zhang1, Qing Song1
1Department of Ultrasound, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, No.28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100853, China.
Objective:
To investigate and compare the clinical outcomes of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for multifocal papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) versus unifocal PTMC in a large cohort.
Methods:
Patients with low-risk PTMC (n = 487) who underwent RFA were included in this retrospective study and divided into the unifocal group (U group) (n = 432) and the multifocal group (M group) (n = 55) according to the number of lesions. After 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM), volume, volume reduction ratio (VRR), the development of local tumor progression including lymph node metastasis (LNM), recurrent PTMC and persistent lesions, and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate were evaluated and compared between the two groups. The different impacts of multifocality on recurrence after RFA for PTMC were investigated by Cox analysis.
Results:
During a mean follow-up time of 49.25 ± 12.98 months, the overall VRR was 99.40 ± 4.43% and the overall incidence of local tumor progression was 3.70% (18/487). No complications occurred after RFA. After PSM, no significant differences were found in volume (0.11 ± 0.69 mm3 vs 0 mm3, p = 0.441), VRR (99.87 ± 0.78% vs 100%, p = 0.441), complete disappearance rate (95.61% vs 89.09%, p = 0.201), incidence of local tumor progression (5.45% vs 5.45%, p = 1.000), LNM (1.82% vs 0%, p = 0.317), recurrent PTMC (1.82% vs 5.45%, p = 0.611), persistent lesions (1.82% vs 0%, p = 0.317), and RFS rate (96.36% vs 94.55%, p = 0.632) between the M group and U group. The association between multifocality and local tumor recurrence also remained nonsignificant (p = 0.619). No distant metastasis or delayed surgery occurred.
Conclusions:
The impact of multifocality on the prognosis after RFA for low-risk PTMC was little. RFA might be a promising treatment for both unifocal and multifocal PTMC in properly selected patients after sufficient preoperative evaluation.
Key Points:
• No significant differences are found in the local tumor progression between the unifocal PTMC and multifocal PTMC. • Multifocality is not associated with higher recurrence after RFA for low-risk PTMC. • RFA is a promising alternative for both unifocal and multifocal PTMC.
