| Abstract [eng] |
Aim. To evaluate the feasibility and pathological effect of laser ablation in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Subjects and methods. Adult patients with a thyroid node up to 4 cm, cytologically suspected or confirmed thyroid carcinoma (Bethesda V-VI), and evidence of thyroid node malignancy on ultrasound examination (EU-TIRADS III-V) were included. Before thyroidectomy, nodes were evaluated by ultrasound for eligibility for laser ablation. Suitable patients underwent laser ablation followed by thyroidectomy. Specimens with tumors were evaluated macroscopically using triphenyl tetrazolium chloride, and histologically with hematoxylin and eosin. Digital macroscopic images were analyzed using Fiji (Imagej) software v.2.15 and histological images – using HALO AI software v.3.6.4134. If patients were not suitable for laser ablation, they underwent thyroidectomy, with ultrasound measurements of the node documented. Statistical analysis was performed using R statistical software package V 4.3.3, RStudio, IBM SPSS Statistics V.23, and G*Power V.3.1.9.4. Results. From 14th February 2023 till 5th April 2024, 180 patients were screened for eligibility to participate in the study. 22 patients were included in the study. 8 patients were eligible for laser ablation, and 6 were included in the final analysis. Pathological examination revealed a microscopic residual unaffected tumor area in 4 of the 6 patients. Conclusions. Laser ablation is a possible treatment option for 17.4% of patients with thyroid cancer, but microscopic evidence of non-radicality is observed in up to 66.7%. To our knowledge, this is the first study that evaluated the radicality of laser ablation using pathological methods. |
