Abstract
Some concern has been expressed about surgical operations in thyroid nodules previously
treated by ethanol injection: the reasons are mainly represented both by the possibility
of more surgical risks due to the adhesions caused by ethanol and the difficulty of
interpreting the histological pattern when a cancer is suspected. During the last
8 years 219 patients underwent ethanol injection: among these 6 were subsequently
submitted to surgical operation. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 5 cases and
isthmusectomy in one case: No vocal cord palsy was registered in these patients. They
were all normocalcemic after surgery. Histology showed no significant fibrosis in
the ethanol treated nodules but only macrofollicles and this did not affect the histological
examination in presence of suspected malignancies.
