Long-term Effectiveness of Ethanol Ablation in Controlling Neck Nodal Metastases in Childhood Papillary Thyroid Cancer

CONTEXT: Childhood papillary thyroid carcinoma (CPTC), despite bilateral thyroidectomy, nodal dissection and radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA), recurs within neck nodal metastases (NNM) in 33% within 20 postoperative years. These NNM are usually treated with reoperation or further radioiodine. Ethanol ablation (EA) may be considered when numbers of NNM are limited. OBJECTIVE: We studied the long-term results of EA in 14 patients presenting with CPTC during 1978 to 2013 and having EA for NNM during 2000 to 2018. METHODS: Cytologic diagnoses of 20 NNM (median diameter 9 mm; median volume 203 mm(3)) were biopsy proven. EA was performed during 2 outpatient sessions under local anesthesia; total volume injected ranged from 0.1 to 2.8 cc (median 0.7). All were followed regularly by sonography and underwent volume recalculation and intranodal Doppler flow measurements. Successful ablation required reduction both in NNM volume and vascularity. RESULTS: Post EA, patients were followed for 5 to 20 years (median 16). There were no complications, including postprocedure hoarseness. All 20 NNM shrank (mean by 87%) and Doppler flow eliminated in 19 of 20. After EA, 11 NNM (55%) disappeared on sonography; 8 of 11 before 20 months. Nine ablated foci were still identifiable after a median of 147 months; only one identifiable 5-mm NNM retained flow. Median serum Tg post EA was 0.6 ng/mL. Only one patient had an increase in Tg attributed to lung metastases. CONCLUSION: EA of NNM in CPTC is effective and safe. Our results suggest that for CPTC patients who do not wish further surgery and are uncomfortable with active surveillance of NNM, EA represents a minimally invasive outpatient management option.