Table 1.
Demographic data based on nodule volume.
| Total | Small (≤10 mL) |
Medium (11–30 mL) |
Large (>30 mL) | p-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients | 762 | 299 | 290 | 173 | |
| Number of nodules | 826 | 351 | 295 | 180 | |
| Age Median | 45.22 ± 11.97 | 44.44 ± 11.35 | 44.83 ± 12.60 | 47.40 ± 11.91 | 0.388 |
| Sex, female/male | 625 (82%)/137 (18%) | 251/61 | 236/45 | 138/31 | 0.203 |
| Laboratory studies (mean ± SD) |
|||||
| Serum Free T4 (ng/dL) | 1.17 ± 0.24 | 1.15 ± 0.20 | 1.19 ± 0.23 | 1.21 ± 0.31 | 0.140 |
| Serum T3 (ng/dL) | 105.58 ± 29.29 | 108.45 ± 30.65 | 101.80 ± 27.33 | 106.05 ± 29.20 | 0.045 |
| Serum TSH (uIU/mL) | 1.57 ± 1.19 | 1.79 ± 1.42 | 1.44 ± 1.01 | 1.37 ± 0.96 | 0.015 |
| Technical characteristics | |||||
| Delivered energy (Kcal) | 7.92 ± 7.30 | 2.64 ± 2.06 | 7.08 ± 4.68 | 14.14 ± 8.20 | <0.001 |
| Energy/mL a (Kcal/cm3) | 0.51 ± 0.32 | 0.69 ± 0.53 | 0.38 ± 0.24 | 0.24 ± 0.12 | <0.001 |
| Ablation time (minutes) | 17.73 ± 9.68 | 10.09 ± 5.19 | 17.88 ± 7.25 | 25.34 ± 9.28 | <0.001 |
a Energy/mL: energy delivered per milliliter of the pretreatment nodule volume. SD: standard deviation; ng: nanogram; dL: deciliter; uIU: mirco International Unit; kilocalorie; mL: milliliter; cm: centimeter.