Thyroid cancer is treated with surgery and in cases of small cancers, patients undergo surgical removal of half of the gland. Unfortunately, there are both short- and long-term complications associated with surgery. A new treatment, which is increasingly recognized worldwide, is radiofrequency ablation (RFA) guided by ultrasound, where the cancer in the thyroid is heated and made inactive without surgery. The challenge with this new treatment is that it has not yet been tested in a randomized trial.

With this postdoc research program, we aim to improve the treatment of patients with small cancers in the thyroid gland. The program consists of three sub-studies: a retrospective study, a randomized clinical trial, and a prospective observational study.

The participants will be patients with a small thyroid cancer nodule who are being treated at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgical Department, Aarhus University Hospital. In the randomized trial, patients will also be included from Rigshospitalet, and in the final study, patients from across the country will be able to participate.

In the retrospective study, we will review all patients who have undergone surgery and had thyroid cancer. We aim to describe the treatment and patient-relevant outcomes.
In the randomized trial, patients with a small cancer nodule (<2 cm) will be randomly assigned to either standard treatment with surgical removal or the experimental treatment with RFA. The primary endpoint is an uncomlicated primary treatment. A secondary outcome will be disease-free survival, assessed by either local recurrence or lymph node metastasis. Additionally, we will investigate patient-reported quality of life, morbidity, and mortality for up to five years after treatment.

The prospective study involves patients with a small thyroid cancer nodule who are monitored with active surveillance. We aim to describe their progression and the development of the cancer nodule.

There will be significant national and international interest in the randomized trial, and the results could have considerable implications for future clinical recommendations. We can introduce a minimally invasive treatment modality for patients with cancer, which is expected to reduce their morbidity, decrease long-term side effects of cancer, and improve their quality of life. Furthermore, the overall knowledge gained from this research program will enhance the quality of our knowledge and help improve patient information.