ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Thermal Ablation for ATA Intermediate-Risk Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Efficacy and Safety Outcomes in a Retrospective Cohort
Provisionally accepted
Tianhao Cong1
Ying Wei1Zhenlong Zhao1Shiliang Cao1
Na Yu1Jie Wu1
Xinyi Zhou2Hanxiao Zhao3Lili Peng1Yan Li1
Ming-an Yu1*- 1China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
- 2Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
- 3China Japan Friendship Institute of Clinical Medicine Research, Beijing, China
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*Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of thermal ablation (TA) for ATA intermediate-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) *Methods and Materials: This retrospective study analyzed ATA intermediate-risk PTC (either “microscopic” extrathyroidal extension or cervical lymph node < 3cm metastasis) patients treated with TA at China-Japan Friendship Hospital between April 2018 and December 2023. Outcomes included technical success, recurrence-free survival (RFS), and complications. Multi-Cox regression identified prognostic factors. *Results: A total of 113 people were included. TA demonstrated 100% technical success and complete ablation rates. 18 patients (15.9%) had developed tumor recurrence. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year RFS rates were 95.6%, 83.7%, and 79.8%, respectively. Metastatic lymph node diameter independently predicted progression (HR:3.20, p<0.05). Complications occurred in 21.2% of cases, with 1.8% permanent vocal cord paralysis. *Conclusions: TA shows promising efficacy and safety for selected ATA intermediate-risk PTC patients, with lymph node size as a key prognostic factor.
Keywords: Hydrodissection, Intermediate-risk, Papillary thyroid carcinoma, Thermal ablation, ultrasound
Received: 31 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cong, Wei, Zhao, Cao, Yu, Wu, Zhou, Zhao, Peng, Li and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ming-an Yu
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