María del Carmen Maceira-Rozas; Paula Cantero-Muñoz

Introduction: Thyroid cancer develops in the tissues of the thyroid gland. The standard treatment is surgery, although in patients with high surgical risks (deteriorated patients or patients who have undergone several procedures) or who do not want to have surgery, other alternatives should be sought. Minimally invasive procedures such as laser ablation (ILTT: Interstitial Laser Tumour Therapy) or radiofrequency ablation (RF) may be one of the alternatives.

Aims: To evaluate by means of a systematic review the treatment of recurrent thyroid cancer by laser or radiofrequency ablation, with regard to its effectiveness and safety in comparison to surgery as standard therapy.

Methods: A review of the scientific literature was carried out until May 2018 in the following databases specialising in evaluation reports and reviews (HTA (CRD database), INAHTA and Cochrane), in general databases (Medline (PubMed), Embase (Ovid SP) or ISI), and a search was carried out in databases of ongoing research projects (Clinicaltrials.gov). Two independent reviewers read and selected articles according to pre-established selection criteria. This information was summarised in the evidence tables.

Result and conclusion: See pdf below.​