Caltanissetta, at Sant’Elia for the first time removed a thyroid nodule with thermal ablation

First thermal ablation surgery at the Sant’Elia hospital in Caltanissetta for the removal of a benign thyroid nodule on an 86-year-old woman. It was carried out by the director of the Departmental Operative Unit of Endocrine Surgery, Francesco Scaffidi Abbate, and the Director of the Departmental Operational Unit “Coordination of operating rooms” Giovanni Di Lorenzo. “It is a minimally invasive technique that is practiced on subjects with very high surgical and anesthetic risk – explains Doctor Scaffidi Abbate – such as patients with severe cardiovascular or metabolic pathologies. This laser technique, which lasts about a quarter of an hour and done under local anesthesia (with almost no risk for the patient) is used only in the case of benign pathology. It allows us to reduce the volume of the nodule by at least 80% in the first six months, and a reduction in the compression of the thyroid nodular mass on the organs of the neck such as the trachea or esophagus. The patient, after the operation, is kept under observation for 24 hours and only in some cases even 48 hours. In addition to patients with very high surgical and anesthesiology, this technique can also be used in young women, to avoid both the aesthetic damage of the scar and the removal of the gland, which at a young age can also be a problem for the patient’s future. It is a procedure that will not replace traditional surgery which must always be performed when possible but must only be done in particular cases with indications provided by the guidelines “.
In the structure directed by Doctor Scaffidi, there are about 150 thyroid surgeries a year, with 2,500 patients seen in the clinic, and about 200 thyroid needle biopsy procedures for cytological evaluation. “These are high numbers – explains Doctor Scaffidi Abbate – but ours is an endemic area for thyroid disease. Numbers that could increase with this new technique, considering that many patients refused to undergo surgery, especially those at high risk. I think that at least 10% of the total number of patients can be treated with excellent results. I wanted to emphasize that we are one of the very few centers in Sicily to use this type of minimally invasive technique. I have to thank my colleague Giovanni Di Lorenzo who always supports me in my Endocrine Surgery unit who yesterday morning, together with me, carried out the thyroid ablation method. The operating block, managed in a masterly manner by Doctor Di Lorenzo, is growing a lot from a technological, professional and human point of view, and in the next months or years excellent results for our health care will emerge “.