COLD THYROID-NODULES - A NEW APPLICATION OF PERCUTANEOUS ETHANOL INJECTION TREATMENT

Sonographically guided percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) has been r ecently used with excellent results in the treatment of toxic and pret oxic thyroid adenoma. The aim of the present study was to assess the e fficacy of PEI also in the treatment of ''cold'' thyroid nodules. Twen ty patients, each with a single thyroid nodule, underwent PEI. In all cases the nodules were found to be cold by thyroid scintiscan. A total of 16.1 mL +/- 3.1 mL of ethanol was injected once a week. No adverse effects were observed during therapy. A striking nodular shrinkage wa s obtained in all cases, ranging from 72.8% to 97.6% (mean 84.5%, p < 0.001 vs pretreatment volume). These preliminary results suggest that PEI is an effective and safe therapy that may be useful in the treatme nt of thyroid nodules as an alternative to other therapies (surgery, L -thyroxine). (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.