Percutaneous Ethanol Injection for Treatment of Cervical Lymph Node Metastases in Patients with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

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Abstract
OBJECTIVE. The objective of this study was to evaluate the technique, efficacy, and side effects of percutaneous ethanol injection in patients with limited cervical nodal metastases from papillary thyroid carcinoma.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Fourteen patients who had undergone thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinoma presented with limited nodal metastases (one to five involved nodes) in the neck between May 1993 and April 2000. All patients had received previous iodine-131 ablative therapy with a mean total dose per patient of 7,548 MBq. Ten of the patients either were considered poor surgical candidates or preferred not to have surgery, and all were unresponsive to iodine-131 therapy. Each metastatic lymph node was treated with percutaneous ethanol injection, and patients received both clinical and sonographic follow-up.RESULTS. Twenty-nine metastatic lymph nodes in our 14 patients were injected. Mean sonographic follow-up was 18 months (range, from 2 months to 6 years 5 months). All treated lymph nodes...