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Newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer and have 2 main concerns
Thyroid Cancer | Last Active: Oct 24, 2023 | Replies (140)Comment receiving replies
re: RFA -- I have read and wondered about it too, but none of my docs ever recommended it. I don't think I asked enough about alternatives to surgery and wish I had. I'd definitely be curious to know what your docs say if you decide to bring it up with them.
Replies to "re: RFA -- I have read and wondered about it too, but none of my docs..."
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I have done some research on RFA and here is what I have learnt -
* RFA is being offered in South Korea, Germany for not just benign nodules but even high-risk carcinomas and has been pretty successful. It saves your thyroid.
* The US is a little behind other countries with RFA. The doctors here are not trained adequately (probably the main reason why doctors are not suggesting it to us yet), and due to COVID many training programs had to be halted worldwide.
* It looks like in the next couple of years, RFA might be a pretty standard option in the US for benign thyroid nodules definitely but even for cancerous tumors.
* Some doctors in the US are treating thyroid carcinomas in the 1cm range with RFA successfully.
In my case, the surgeon has recommended surgery and says RFA is not a viable option due to the size and location of the carcinoma. 🙁