7 Benefits of Thyroid Radiofrequency Ablation

The word “surgery” is rarely met with enthusiasm, and for good reason — it’s no small undertaking. While surgery is still an effective and necessary tool in healthcare, new technologies are allowing doctors to offer far less invasive options, which is the case with thyroid radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

As a leading expert in the field of thyroid health, Dr. Sean P. Nikravan is a big champion of thyroid RFA, and he uses the technique whenever possible. Here’s why.

1. Thyroid RFA is a great solution for thyroid disease

Dr. Nikravan has been successfully using thyroid RFA to treat the two main types of thyroid disease:

Thyroid nodules

The prevalence of thyroid nodules is high — they affect more than 67% of the general population. In some cases, these growths can become problematic and require removal.

Thyroid cancer

Each year, slightly more than 44,000 Americans are diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and the frontline treatment is to remove the cancerous tissue.

2. Removing only necessary tissue with thyroid RFA

With surgery, there’s often a lot of collateral damage to surrounding tissues. A perfect example of this is the surgical treatment of thyroid cancer, which mostly involves removing the entire lobe or the entire gland.

With RFA, we first locate the thyroid nodule with RF and ultrasound probes. Once we confirm that the growth has clear margins all the way around, we deliver the RF energy into those tissues, removing only what’s needed. We can preserve as much of your thyroid as possible with RFA because we can measure precision in millimeters.

Please note that larger thyroid nodules that are attached to other structures and that don’t have clear margins will often require surgery.

3. No incisions except for insertion point

Speaking of collateral damage, with thyroid RFA, Dr. Nikravan only needs a small insertion point for the RF tools, unlike surgery, which requires a large incision. With no incisions, your post-procedural comfort level is much greater and there’s less risk of infection.

4. No general anesthesia

Many people don’t tolerate general anesthesia well and we’re pleased to report that we only use a local anesthesia or sedative for thyroid RFA procedures.

5. No hospital stay with thyroid RFA

We perform thyroid RFA on an outpatient basis right here in our office. With thyroid surgery, you often have to spend the night in the hospital.

6. Very little downtime

Because we don’t use anesthesia and there are no large incisions, you have little to no downtime after your thyroid RFA procedure.

7. Immediate results 

A benefit that our patients love is that results from your thyroid RFA are immediate. And if we can treat small nodules with RFA early on, we often get 100% resolution.

To learn for yourself how thyroid RFA is a great solution for thyroid disease and to hear from other patients, we invite you to take a look at this informative video that Dr. Nikravan made to explain the RFA procedure more in-depth.

To determine whether you’re a good candidate for innovative thyroid RFA, please contact Sean P. Nikravan, MD, in Newport Beach, California, today to schedule a consultation.