Affiliations: [a]
Center of Minimally Invasive Treatment for Tumor, Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, China
| [b]
Ultrasound Research and Education Institute, Clinical Research Center for Interventional Medicine, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| [c]
Engineering Research Center of Ultrasound Diagnosis and Treatment, National Clinical Research Center for Interventional Medicine, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Song-Yuan Yu, MD and Hui-Xiong Xu, MD, PhD, Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, 301 Middle Yanchang Rd, Shanghai, 200072, China. E-mail: 236770584@qq.com (Song-Yuan Yu); E-mail: xuhuixiong@126.com (Hui-Xiong Xu).
Abstract: Hyperthyroidism is a common disease mainly manifested by hyperexcitability of multiple systems and hypermetabolism. Currently, antithyroid drugs (ATDs), radioiodine therapy (RIT), and surgery are mainly used in the clinical treatment for primary hyperthyroidism. We reported a case of a 28-year-old female who received a novel treatment for primary hyperthyroidism. This patient had poor control of thyroid function while taking ATD, and her oral Methimazole (MMI) dose varied repeatedly between 20 mg qd and 15 mg qd, failing to maintain a stable status. To minimize the possible complication and to achieve drug reduction or withdrawal, she refused RIT and surgery and showed up in our department. The patient, diagnosed with Graves’ disease (GD) and met the surgical indication after systematic clinical evaluation, was subject to ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) of the partial thyroid gland with continuous oral administration of 20 mg qd MMI. The post-ablation condition was stable and the patient was discharged 2 days after the operation. Thyroid ultrasound and serum thyroid function test were examined regularly after ablation and the MMI dosage was gradually reduced according to the results of the biochemical examination. Five weeks after the operation, the patient completely discontinued the medication. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation is minimally invasive, safe, and effective, and has potential to be an alternative treatment besides the 3 classical treatments of hyperthyroidism.
