Surgical aspects of thyroid nodules previously treated by ethanol injection

Some concern has been expressed about surgical operations in thyroid nodules previously treated by ethanol injection: the reasons are mainly represented both by the possibility of more surgical risks due to the adhesions caused by ethanol and the difficulty of interpreting the histological pattern when a cancer is suspected. During the last 8 years 219 patients underwent ethanol injection: among these 6 were subsequently submitted to surgical operation. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 5 cases and isthmusectomy in one case: No vocal cord palsy was registered in these patients.. They were all normocalcemic after surgery. Histology showed no significant fibrosis in the ethanol treated nodules but only macrofollicles and this did not affect the histological examination in presence of suspected malignancies.