Efficacy of sonographically guided percutaneous ethanol injection for treatment of thyroid cysts versus solid thyroid nodules.
OBJECTIVE
Sonographically guided percutaneous ethanol injection has been recently proposed as a treatment for nonfunctioning benign thyroid nodules such as cysts or solid nodules. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of ethanol injection in thyroid cysts and solid nodules.


METHODS
We studied 20 patients with simple or complex thyroid cysts and 22 patients with solid thyroid nodules. All lesions were confirmed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy to be benign. The mean volume of the instilled absolute ethanol (99.9%) was 62.2% of the whole tumor volume for solid nodules and 63.4% of the cystic volume for cysts. Follow-up sonography was performed 1-6 months (mean, 4.4 months for cysts and 4.6 months for solid nodules) after the procedure.


RESULTS
The mean volume reduction rate for cysts (65%) was greater than that for solid nodules (38.3%) (p < 0.01, Student's t test). The volume of the instilled ethanol correlated significantly with the volume reduction rate of cysts but not with that of solid nodules (p < 0.01, Student's t test).


CONCLUSIONS
Sonographically guided percutaneous ethanol injection is more effective for thyroid cysts than for solid thyroid nodules.
Kim
Jin Hyoung
JH
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Poongnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea.
Lee
Ho Kyu
HK
Lee
Jung Hyun
JH
Ahn
Il Min
IM
Choi
Choong Gon
CG
D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000328:Adult; D003560:Cysts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004360:Drug Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012997:Solvents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014463:Ultrasonography
D012997:Solvents; D000431:Ethanol