Background: Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) typically carries an excellent prognosis regardless of the treatment option pursued. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for thyroid disease has been utilized for benign lesions and in patients who are poor surgical candidates for thyroid cancers with compression symptoms, but the efficacy and limitations of RFA as first-line therapy for PTMC has not been described in adequate detail. The purpose of our study was to investigate RFA versus thyroidectomy in terms of efficacy, oncologic outcomes, quality of life, complications, and costs over a 5-year period of follow-up. Methods: From January 2013 to November 2013, 174 consecutive patients with an isolated, solitary intrathyroidal PTMC were identified in a Chinese teaching hospital. Those with more aggressive or advanced PTMCs were not included. Ninety-four patients elected RFA and 80 patients elected surgery for treatment of these PTMC. Nodules were confirmed to be PTMC without an aggressive histological type by core needle biopsy in the RFA group and by final surgical pathology in the surgery group. The extent of surgery was decided based on patient preferences in consultation with the surgeons. Of all the patients, 58 (72.5%) underwent lobectomy, 22 (27.5%) underwent total thyroidectomy, and 53 (66.3%) underwent lymph node dissection. Pre- and post-treatment variables were compared between the two groups, including demographics, tumor characteristics, treatment, local tumor progression, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, local recurrence, complications, and quality-of-life findings. Results: Patient-specific variables were similar between groups, as were oncologic outcomes after 5 years of follow-up. When compared with RFA, surgery took longer, had a longer hospitalization time, and was costlier (all p < 0.001). The surgery group had three complications, with 2 (2.5%) permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve injuries and 1 (1.3%) case of permanent hypoparathyroidism, while none was reported in the RFA group (p = 0.095). The surgery group had a lower post-treatment thyroid-related quality of life. Conclusions: For carefully selected low-risk intrathyroidal PTMC, RFA was not oncologically inferior to open surgery, and it was associated with a higher quality of life and lower overall costs.

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