Background:

Nodularity in thyroid tissue is extremely common. In Mexico, the only openly available treatment for benign cold thyroid nodules that cause compressive or cosmetic symptoms is surgery. This limitation in the availability of non-invasive treatments places an enormous strain on the State’s health resources.

Objective:

To demonstrate the cost-minimization of percutaneous ethanol injection treatment (PEIT) against radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and laser ablation for the treatment of benign solid thyroid nodules.

Method:

Prospective, comparative, quasi-experimental, longitudinal study with external controls, non-randomized, historical, prolective and open. The significant difference in volume reduction was calculated by paired 2-tailed t-test. Validation was made to prove that the reduction in the final nodule volume was non-inferior to the gold standard. The cost-analysis study was carried out using the Montecarlo method.

Results:

15 patients entered the study. The mean volume of the nodules was 14.46 ± 19 cc, with a final mean volume of 5.24 ± 8.44 cc, the average reduction percentage was 63 ± 17%. The cost per procedure was $ 18,807 mx, $ 16,300 mx, $ 9,248 mx and $ 1,615 for RFA, surgery, laser ablation and PEIT, respectively.

Conclusions:

The results of the study demonstrate the non-inferiority of the ablation of benign solid thyroid nodules with PEIT compared to laser and RFA, at a lower cost.

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