Lucknow: In a relief to patients, doctors at the endocrine and breast surgery department of SGPGIMS have developed a new method to deal with benign thyroid lumps – which are non-cancerous lumps of tissue or fluid on the thyroid gland.Usually described as harmless and painless, they are found in at least 12% of the Indian population, particularly women. The prevalence of the problem is much higher – up to 50% – when seen through medical scans.However, as their size grows, patients may experience tightness or swelling in the neck. Trouble in swallowing is also common in patients with large nodules as they tend to press the food pipe. While many patients need to be monitored regularly, about 15% need surgery.“Traditionally, patients have two options. One is hemi-thyroidectomy which preserves thyroid function, but patients must be monitored constantly to tackle the possibility of future intervention. The other is total thyroidectomy which addresses the problem definitively but exposes patients to lifelong hormone (thyroxine) replacement and a greater risk of hypoparathyroidism and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury,” said Prof Sabaretnam Mayilvaganan – who developed the new method called Direct Access Microwave Ablation (DAMA).He added: “DAMA overcomes limitations in the previous options. It combines conventional surgery with a minimally invasive treatment that uses heat energy to destroy unwanted tissue in a single operation, allowing us to remove the diseased portion of the thyroid while treating nodules in the remaining lobe without removing it entirely.”He and his team comprising Dr Rajni K Sah, Dr Jagannath Spandana and Dr Namrata Maskara have undertaken seven such procedures successfully.“It could widen treatment options for selected patients,” said Prof Sabaretnam.
