Abstract
Differentiated thyroid cancer often metastasizes to cervical lymph nodes, characteristically
with slow growth rate and low-level aggressiveness. Cervical lymph node resection
is the treatment of choice, but ethanol ablation offers a therapeutic option for patients
with few nodes unresponsive to radioiodine therapy and who are poor surgical candidates.
The ethanol ablation procedure is minimally invasive, guided sonographically, easily
and safely repeated, and easily implemented with minimal technology and cost. Transient
nerve injury is infrequent and virtually the only important complication. Current
experience indicates that ethanol ablation has the safest therapeutic profile compared
to surgery and thermal ablation, and the effectiveness is comparable to thermal ablation
and approaches that of surgery. Well-designed clinical trials are lacking.
Keywords
ethanol - thyroid carcinoma - ultrasound - nerve injury - lymph node metastasis
