Percutaneous Ethanol Injection in Thyroid Nodules: Preliminary Results

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) was first introduced for treatment of thyroid nodules in 1990 (1). The procedure has previously been used for treatment of several benign and malignant conditions, including parathyroid and hepatic tumors (2). Özdemir and co-workers were the first researchers who performed PEI in Turkey with successful results (3). This paper reports our center’s initial experience with PEI and highlights differences in clinical evolution, technique and outcome for PEI treatment in autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTN) and thyroid cystic nodules (TCN).