Residual Tumor And Central Lymph Node Metastasis After Thermal Ablation Of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Case Report And Review Of Literature

BACKGROUNDDebate exists regarding the use of thermal ablation (TA) to treat papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Some studies have recommended TA as a new, ef?cient and safe technology for PTC. In this article, we report one case of a residual tumor and central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) after TA for PTC.CASE SUMMARYA 63-year-old female underwent bilateral ultrasound (US)-guided radiofrequency ablation for PTC. Three months later, she was diagnosed as thyroid cancer with suspected CLNM by US and contrast-enhanced computed tomography. The subsequent fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies were negative. Due to her strong personal preference, she underwent total thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection. Local tissue adhesion and a difficult dissection were noted during the operation. The pathology of the frozen sections during the operation was still negative. The final pathology results of paraffin-embedded sections revealed residual tumor cells at the edge of the PTC and CLNM.CONCLUSIONTA may lead to a residual tumor in patients with PTC. Follow-up using US and FNA biopsy may not be adequate to evaluate the residual tumor. TA should be carefully considered in PTC treatment.