Ohio State’s high-tech team is using radiofrequency waves to quickly and successfully treat thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer is being diagnoses at a growing rate in the U.S., but it’s also one of the most survivable.

“Usually, the outcomes are excellent for patients with thyroid cancer,” says Barbra Miller, MD, an endocrine surgeon at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

While traditional thyroid surgeries are usually successful, Miller and her colleagues utilize minimally-invasive procedures whenever appropriate in order to limit physical impact to the patients and shorten their recovery times.

One of those procedures — radiofrequency ablation — requires only the insertion of a small needle without sacrificing the efficacy of more invasive surgeries.

“It can be done in the office and most patients are in and out of the clinic within 30 minutes to an hour after the procedure,” Miller says.

To perform the procedure, a surgeon inserts the needle into malignant thyroid nodules, which ablates — or destroys — the tissue via heat from radiofrequency waves. Miller employs a “moving shot technique.”

“We start with the very deepest portions, and then moving our way up,” Miller says. “So, we're constantly moving that needle so that we're reducing the risk of thermal injury or heat-induced damage to surrounding structures.”

Surgeons are also studying the possible treatment of thyroid cancer through microwave ablation, which is similar to radiofrequency ablation, but utilizes a different heat source.

Ohio State surgeons are the first in central Ohio to offer radiofrequency ablation to thyroid cancer patients, providing a new, minimally-invasive treatment alternative that maintains a high likelihood of success.

“It’s exciting —this is something that is really starting to take off among my colleagues at similar centers around the country,” Miller says. “The ability to offer this type of care to our patients is what we’re always looking for.”

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