Meta-Analysis of the Application Effect of Different Modalities of Thermal Ablation and Surgical Treatment in Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma.

Background: Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) refers to papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a maximum diameter of 10 mm. Thermal ablation, including radiofrequency ablation (RFA), microwave ablation (MWA), and laser ablation (LA), has been applied in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules and captured extensive attention. At present, the application of thermal ablation in PTMC has been extensively reported, but outcomes such as volume reduction rate (VRR), complete remission rate (CRR), and adverse reaction rate (ARR) vary considerably. Therefore, this meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different treatment methods of PTMC.
Methods: We did a systematic review and network meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBase, and Cochrane-Library from the date of inception to January 10, 2022, to retrieve the VRR, CRR, and ARR of MWA, RFA, LA and surgical treatment of PTMC, and a meta-analysis was performed using the R meta-package. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, and sensitivity analyses, cumulative meta-analyses, and publication bias were also performed. Relevant literature was retrieved with keywords; the eligible cohort studies were screened based on the established inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: A total of 1515 patients were included in the 12-month follow-up. The overall VRR was 86.25% (95% CI: 77.89, 94.60), and the VRR was RFA > WMA > LA, but the differences were not significant. A total of 1483 patients were included in the last follow-up. The overall VRR was 99.41% (95% CI: 99.11, 99.72), and the VRR was RFA > WMA > LA, but the differences were not significant. A total of 1622 patients showed complete remission at the last follow-up, and the overall CRR was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.79). The CRR was RFA > LA > WMA, but the differences were not significant. A total of 1883 patients had adverse reactions at the last follow-up, and the overall ARR was 0.06 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.08). The ARR at the last follow-up was RFA = Surg < LA < WMA. The ARR of the RFA and Surg subgroups was significantly lower than that of the WMA subgroup. Conclusions: Similar good efficacy and safety profiles were observed in WMA, RFA, LA, and surgical treatment in PTMC, among which RFA showed the best volume reduction, complete remission rate, and adverse reaction reduction. However, there is a slight bias in the limited literature included in this study, and we did not conduct or refer to mechanistic studies to confirm its specific mechanism of action. Clinicians are advised to use their discretion in the choice of treatment.

1. Introduction

Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) refers to papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a maximum diameter of 10 mm, and its incidence has been on a rise [1, 2]. Due to its insensitivity to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the mainstay of treatment for PTMC includes thyroid lobectomy and selective central lymph node dissection [3]. Despite the remarkable progress in the treatment of PTC, open surgery is invasive and is associated with a high risk of postoperative complications and endoscope-related soft tissue injuries [4].

In recent years, as minimally invasive technology develops, thermal ablation, including radiofrequency ablation (RFA), microwave ablation (MWA), and laser ablation (LA), has been applied in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules and captured extensive attention [5, 6]. RFA uses the oscillating electric field generated by the electrodes to generate heat. As such, the temperature of the needle tip can reach above 60 °C to cause tissue coagulation and necrosis while avoiding collateral damages to the adjacent normal tissues [7, 8]. MWA generates heat through the collision of polar molecules caused by alternating electromagnetic fields, resulting in tumor necrosis. It exhibits higher thermal efficiency than RFA due to the reduced vascular heat dissipation effect and further leads to a reduced risk of complications [9]. However, MWA only inactivates cancer nodules and does not remove surrounding lymph nodes, which is a non-radical treatment for tumors. The heat generated by LA exceeds 300 °C, which is far higher than that of RFA and MWA and can rapidly kill tumor cells [10].

The American Thyroid Cancer Association recommends thermal ablation for the treatment of recurrent thyroid cancer [11]. The use of thermal ablation in patients with primary low-risk thyroid cancer remains controversial, to which the followings are attributable. First, thermal ablation is a local treatment method, which fails to reach the smallest unit (lobes) of thyroid cancer resection, and is prone to recurrence after surgery. Second, thermal ablation cannot perform preventive cervical lymph node dissection. Third, tissue degeneration and necrosis after thermal ablation complicate the surgery after recurrence. Therefore, thermal ablation therapy is discouraged as a routine method for PTMC. Nonetheless, studies have shown that compared with surgical treatment, WMA is associated with considerably fewer adverse reactions and better quality of life of PTMC patients [12, 13].

Meta-analysis is considered high-level evidence in evidence-based medicine. It is a statistical method for comparing and synthesizing data from several studies on the same scientific subject. It is commonly employed in quantitatively integrated analyses in systematic reviews. By integrating all relevant data, the consequences of health care may be evaluated more accurately than in individual research, and the consistency of evidence across studies and variation across studies can be analyzed more simply. At present, the application of thermal ablation in PTMC has been extensively reported, but the outcomes such as volume reduction rate (VRR), complete remission rate (CRR), and adverse reaction rate (ARR) vary considerably. Therefore, this meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different treatment methods of PTMC.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Search Strategy and Selection Criteria

We did a systematic review and network meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBase, and Cochrane-Library from the date of inception to August 10, 2022, with no language restrictions. We used the search terms ((radiofrequency [Title/Abstract]) OR (microwave [Title/Abstract]) OR (Laser [Title/Abstract]) and (Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma [Title/Abstract]) or (thyroid cancer [Title/Abstract])), and references of the included literature were searched and retrospectively added to potentially missing studies whenever possible.

2.2. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria of Literature

We included randomized comparison clinical trial (RCT) or clinical trial; trials with recruited patients who were diagnosed with PTMC confirmed by ultrasound-guided puncture biopsy and had no previous treatment; trials using at least one of the following methods, namely, WMA, RFA, LA, and surgery; trials with indicators including the VRR, CRR, and ARR; trials with scientific and standardized study design with clear grouping and intervention measures; and complete follow-up data and other data.

We excluded non-clinical studies, case reports, or secondary data analysis; studies with VRR, CRR, ARR, and other related outcome indicators that could not be extracted; less than 15 patients were included in a single group; in combination with other treatment modalities; only experimental animal studies for this disease; the interventions in the treatment and control groups did not meet the aforementioned criteria; the study data were poorly described and contained inaccurate information..

2.3. Quality Assessment

Data were retrieved by two investigators. Duplicates were excluded and the remaining literature was screened separately at the levels of the article title, abstract, and full text and then against the above criteria to decide on whether to be included in this study.

2.4. Data Extraction

Data were extracted and collated by two investigators independently, including first author name, year of publication, type of subjects, number of subjects, treatment methods, study design, and results such as VRR, CRR, and ARR. The primary meta-analysis outcomes of interest were VRR, CRR, and ARR.

2.5. Statistical Analysis

The R software meta-package was used to collate and meta-analyze the data. The VRR data are expressed as the total number of cases (n), mean and standard deviation (Sd), and the CRR and ARR data are expressed as the total sample size (Sample.size) and the number of target indicators (Case). The heterogeneity of the included studies was evaluated via I2 test. I2 > 0 and P value < 0.1 indicated the presence of heterogeneity, which required analysis of the source of heterogeneity for its removal, and I2 = 0 and P value > 0.1 indicated no heterogeneity. Funnel plots were used to describe publication bias, and Egger's test was used to test for funnel plot asymmetry.

3. Results

3.1. Results of the Literature Search and Intervention Studies

Of 758 original papers retrieved by an electronic search, 678 papers were excluded after literature abstracts reading and exclusion of case reports, abstracts, reviews, and single-arm research, and 80 potentially eligible articles were included. After reading the full text, 17 studies including 2,188 patients were deemed eligible, including 14 studies that used monotherapy (5 used WMA, 7 used RFA, and 2 used LA), 2 used WMA and surgery, and 1 used LA and surgery. The flowchart of literature enrolled is shown in Figure 1. Descriptive details of the included trials and resulting networks are shown in Table 1 and Figure 2.

Figure 1

The flowchart of literature enrolled.

Table 1

Basic information of the included literatures.

First author	Year	Intervention	Cancer type	Patients	Mean follow-up (months)	Data type
Yue [14]	2014	MVA	PTMC	18	11.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Li [15]	2018	MVA	PTMC	46	42.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
		Surg	PTMC	46	42.0	ARR
Li [16]	2019	MVA	PTMC	168	25.1	CRR, ARR
		Surg	PTMC	143	27.5	ARR
Teng [17]	2018	MVA	PTMC	15	36.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Teng D [18]	2019	MVA	PTMC	185	20.7	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Yue [19]	2020	MVA	PTMC	119	37.2	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Zhou [20]	2020	MVA	PTMC	33	23.3	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
		LA	PTMC	34	22.8	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Wang [21]	2020	MVA	PTMC	107	15.1	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR
Ding [22]	2019	RFA	PTMC	37	6.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Rong W [23]	2020	RFA	PTMC	198	25.9	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR
Xiao [24]	2020	RFA	PTMC	66	38.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Yan [25]	2020	RFA	PTMC	414	42.15	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Yan Lb [26]	2020	RFA	PTMC	211	24.4	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Zhang [27]	2016	RFA	PTMC	92	7.8	CRR, ARR
Zhang [28]	2019	RFA	PTMC	30	18.0	VRR, VRR (12 months), CRR, ARR
Zhou [29]	2019	LA	PTMC	36	49.2	ARR
		Surg	PTMC	45	48.5	ARR
Ji [30]	2019	LA	PTMC	37	16.5	CRR, ARR

Note: PTMC = papillary thyroid microcarcinoma; WMA = microwave ablation; RFA = radiofrequency ablation; LA = laser ablation; VRR = volume reduction rate; CRR = complete remission rate; ARR = adverse reaction rate.

Figure 2

Quality assessment of included literature.

3.2. Meta-Analysis of VRR with Different Treatment Modalities

The heterogeneity test I2 were all >50%, and random model analysis was used. A total of 1515 patients with VRR data were included in the 12-month follow-up, and the overall VRR was 86.25% (95% CI: 77.89, 94.60), in which 526 patients were in the WMA subgroup with an overall VRR of 82.96% (95% CI: 66.76, 97.81), 956 patients were in the RFA subgroup with an overall VRR of 92.68% (95% CI: 86.43, 98.88), and 34 patients were in the LA subgroup with an overall VRR of 68.50% (95% CI: 49.83, 81.77). The 12-month follow-up VRR of the three thermal ablation methods was RFA > WMA > LA, and the differences were not significant (Figure 3).

Figure 3

VRR forest map at 12 months after different thermal ablation methods. The 12-month follow-up VRR of the three thermal ablation methods was RFA > WMA > LA, and the differences were not significant. Note: WMA = microwave ablation; RFA = radiofrequency ablation, LA = laser ablation; VRR = volume reduction rate.

A total of 1483 patients with VRR data were included in the last follow-up, and the overall VRR was 99.41% (95% CI: 99.11, 99.72), in which 526 patients were in the WMA subgroup with an overall VRR of 97.57% (95% CI: 94.85, 100.3), 923 patients were in the RFA subgroup with an overall VRR of 99.51% (95% CI: 99.15, 99.86), and 34 patients were in the LA subgroup, with an overall VRR of 96.80% (95% CI: 93.37, 99.72). The last follow-up VRR of the three thermal ablation methods was RFA > WMA > LA, but the difference was not significantly significant (Figure 4).

Figure 4

VRR forest map at last follow-up with different thermal ablation methods. The last follow-up VRR of the three thermal ablation methods was RFA > WMA > LA, but the difference was not significantly significant. Note: WMA = microwave ablation; RFA = radiofrequency ablation, LA = laser ablation; VRR = volume reduction rate.

3.3. Meta-Analysis of CRR with Different Treatment Modalities

The heterogeneity test I2 was all >50%, and the random model was used for analysis. A total of 1622 patients with CRR data were included in the last follow-up, and the overall CRR was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.79), in which 700 patients were in the WMA subgroup, with an overall CRR of 0.54 (95% CI: 0.31, 0.78), 71 patients were in the LA subgroup, with an overall CRR of 0.56 (95% CI: 0.10, 1.00), and 851 patients were in the RFA subgroup, with an overall CRR of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.47, 1.00). The CRR of the three thermal ablation methods at the last follow-up was RFA > LA > WMA, and the differences were not significant (Figure 5).

Figure 5

CRR forest map at last follow-up with different thermal ablation methods. The CRR of the three thermal ablation methods at the last follow-up was RFA > LA > WMA, and the differences were not significant. Note: WMA = microwave ablation; RFA = radiofrequency ablation; LA = laser ablation; CRR = complete remission rate.

3.4. Meta-Analysis of ARR with Different Treatment Modalities

The heterogeneity test I2 was >50%, and random model analysis was used. A total of 1883 patients with ARR data were included in the last follow-up, and the pooled ARR of 0.06 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.08), in which 587 patients were in the WMA subgroup, with a pooled ARR of 0.07 (95% CI: 0.04, 0.10); 234 patients were in the Surg subgroup, with a pooled ARR of 0.20 (95% CI: 0, 0.41); 212 patients were in the LA subgroup, with a pooled ARR of 0.03 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.06); and 850 patients were in the RFA subgroup, with a pooled ARR of 0.02 (95% CI: 0, 0.04). The ARR of the four treatments at the last follow-up was RFA = Surg < LA < WMA, and the ARR of the RFA and Surg subgroups was significantly lower than that of the WMA subgroup, and the difference was statistically significant (Figure 6).

Figure 6

ARR forest plot at last follow-up with different thermal ablation methods. The final ARR of the four treatments RFA = Surg LA WMA follow-up, and the ARR of the RFA and Surg subgroups were considerably lower than WMA subgroups, because the distinction was statistically significant. Note: WMA = microwave ablation; RFA = radiofrequency ablation; LA = laser ablation; ARR = adverse reaction rate.

3.5. Heterogeneity Analysis of Included Literature

The funnel plots of all analyses were significantly asymmetric, and the results of Egger's test showed high heterogeneity in all analyses (P < 0.05) (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Inclusion funnel plot. All funnel plots were considerably asymmetric, and Egger's test findings revealed strong heterogeneity in all studies.

3.6. Sensitivity Analysis

We performed sensitivity analyses on the subgroups with I2 greater than 50 in each outcome to see the source of heterogeneity and found that the change in I2 was not significant regardless of which literature was excluded.

4. Discussion

PTMC is papillary thyroid carcinoma with a diameter of ≤10 mm, characterized by slow clinical progression, good prognosis, and low mortality. The widespread application of high-frequency neck ultrasound and ultrasound-guided biopsy enables the detection rate of PTMC to be high [31]. Due to the insensitivity to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, surgery remains the mainstay treatment of PTMC. However, overtreatment exists for thyroid cancer [32]. Some scholars have pointed out that active surveillance and surgical treatment have no significant difference in patient survival. Problems with open surgery, including general anesthesia and the risk of complications, can have serious negative impacts on patients' quality of life. Therefore, some studies suggest active monitoring as the first-line management of PTMC and also point out the possibility of tumor progression and lymph node metastasis, and “coexistence with cancer” increases the physical and psychological stress of patients. Therefore, the selection of appropriate treatment remains controversial.

The currently recommended treatment is total thyroidectomy. Thermal ablation mainly includes RFA, MWA, and LA, and the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided thermal ablation in benign thyroid nodules have been confirmed [33]. The American Thyroid Association guidelines recommend observational follow-up as an effective alternative to surgical resection for patients with low-risk PTMC [34]. However, effective methods to predict the progression of PTMC remain unknown [35, 36].

In recent years, thermal ablation of PTMC has been widely promoted. In contrast to surgery, thermal ablation accurately induces cell necrosis in thyroid nodules, with benefits such as cost-effectiveness, rapid operation, and no hospitalization [37]. In the present study, after RFA, MWA, and LA, the 12-month follow-up VRR was 86.25% (95% CI: 77.89, 94.60), the last follow-up VRR was 99.41% (95% CI: 99.11, 99.72), and the CRR was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.79). The ARR at the last follow-up for RFA, MWA, LA, and surgical treatments was 0.06 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.08), indicating that thermal ablation methods effectively removed the diseased tissue, with a low risk of postoperative recurrence and complications. Notably, the postoperative complication rate for surgical treatment in the present study was similar to that of RFA, slightly lower than that of LA, and significantly lower than that of WMA. However, there are still a few tumors with recurrence and lymph node metastasis after ablation. The reasons may be as follows: (1) The tumor has multicenter origin, especially papillary thyroid cancer, and the tumor may cause occult lymph node metastasis. (2) The thyroid gland is small in size, and when the cancer is adjacent to the trachea, recurrent laryngeal nerve, common carotid artery, and parathyroid gland, the safety margin of ablation is limited, which will relatively reduce the ablation power and time, resulting in incomplete ablation and residual primary cancer. (3) Ablation does not involve central lymph node intervention, which is a nontumor radical treatment.

Considering the inconsistencies in follow-up time, the highest VRR in the WMA subgroup was 98.1 ± 3.9% [21], and the lowest was 55.0 ± 45.75% [15]. In the RFA subgroup, the highest VRR was 99.9 ± 0.3% [28], and the lowest was 84.01 ± 34.91% [24]. In addition, the types of studies were all retrospective studies or single-arm studies, and the included patients were all from China, which moderates the quality of the studies to a certain extent; hence, high heterogeneity was demonstrated in the included literature. These results are attributed to the following reasons. The first is the absence of guidelines for standard power, duration, and thermal ablation energy. Second, the varying technical level of hospitals leads to errors in patient selection, surgical operation, and index interpretation. Third, there may be biased reports in the interpretation of results, favoring positive findings at the expense of poor ones. Additionally, the slow clinical progression of PTMC and the short mean follow-up duration of the included studies (6-49.2 months [27.57 months]) resulted in concerns about the long-term effect of thermal ablation.

Based on the disease characteristics of PTMC, this study observed the different associations of WMA, RFA, and LA, which not only provided evidence-based basis for clinicians to choose surgical methods, but also provided certain ideas for future postoperative treatment and proposed external application of traditional Chinese medicine. This study has several limitations. First, the included studies have high heterogeneity, so further analysis of their sources is required. Second, the included studies mainly involved WMA and RFA, and the number of LA-related studies was small; there was a lack of prospective randomized controlled studies. Third, the robustness of the findings is moderated by the substantial inconsistencies in the sample size of the included studies and follow-up duration, so future studies are warranted to improve the accuracy of the results.

5. Conclusion

Similar good efficacy and safety profiles were observed in WMA, RFA, LA, and surgical treatment in PTMC, among which RFA showed the best volume reduction, complete remission rate, and adverse reaction reduction. In addition, the incidence of postoperative complications after surgical treatment was similar to that of RFA and was significantly lower than that of WMA. Thus, an elaborate selection of thermal ablation is required.