Mayo Clinic Minute: Treating thyroid nodules without surgery

Most lumps or nodules in the thyroid, which is a gland in your neck, are not harmful and don’t need treatment. But sometimes, they can grow bigger and cause problems like trouble swallowing. In those cases, doctors might need to do surgery to remove them. 

There’s also a treatment called radiofrequency ablation (RFA), which uses heat to make the nodules smaller. Dr. Marius Stan, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, says this nonsurgical treatment for shrinking thyroid nodules offers patients a safe, highly successful procedure. He says Mayo Clinic is also researching how RFA may be used to treat thyroid cancer.

Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr. Marius Stan says patients with enlarged, benign thyroid nodules are good candidates for RFA.

Along with retaining thyroid function, there are other advantages.

Dr. Stan says Mayo Clinic is one of the leading U.S. institutions to research using RFA to treat thyroid cancer.
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