Can thyroid nodules be cured without surgery?

Thyroid nodules are a common disease that affects people of all ages and genders, with middle-aged women being the majority. Thyroid nodules can be single or multiple, with multiple nodules being more common. However, single nodules are more likely to become cancerous than multiple nodules. Generally speaking, the duration of thyroid nodules is relatively long, and patients do not have any symptoms at the beginning. So, can thyroid nodules be cured without surgery?

Thyroid nodules can be treated without surgery. The risks of surgery are very high:

1. Numbness in the hands and feet may occur after thyroid nodule surgery. This is mainly because certain blood vessels must be cut off during thyroid nodule surgery, which affects the blood supply to the parathyroid glands.

2. Benign thyroid nodules are prone to recurrence after surgery, and the nodules will multiply after recurrence. This is because if the surgical resection is not thorough enough, there is a high possibility that hyperplastic thyroid tissue and micronodules will remain, and the postoperative inhibitory treatment of thyroxine preparations has limited effect on the residual diseased tissue, so the postoperative recurrence rate is high.

3. After thyroid nodule surgery, there will be a pulling sensation or even coughing when swallowing, which is related to the normal scar contraction reaction after thyroid nodule surgery. Because, although there is only a linear scar on the neck after thyroid nodule surgery, the actual surgical wound is much larger than this scar. This wound, like the incision on the neck, needs to go through a normal scar reaction before it can heal. The scar reaction process will cause contraction and pull the trachea near the wound, causing a pulling sensation when swallowing, and may even irritate the trachea and cause coughing.

4. The incision will swell and harden after thyroid nodule surgery. Thyroid nodule surgery requires a large separation of the skin flaps above and below the incision, which can easily cause edema of the tissues around the incision. Especially for middle-aged and elderly women, because their skin is looser and they have more fat tissue, the incision is prone to edema.

5. Surgical treatment of thyroid nodules can easily cause lifelong hypothyroidism. Surgical treatment of thyroid nodules is not just a simple operation as some patients think. If the doctor removes too much of the thyroid gland, it can easily cause lifelong hypothyroidism. If surgical treatment is chosen, the patient will need to take medication for life to control it. 6. It will be more difficult to speak after thyroid nodule surgery. This is mainly because in order to avoid damaging the recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroid nodule surgery, it is often dissected, which may cause edema of the recurrent laryngeal nerve or affect its blood supply, resulting in difficulty speaking.

Patients need to pay attention to the fact that they should supplement more iodine, but not too much. Iodine is an important raw material for the synthesis of thyroid hormone. The more iodine is added, the more it can be absorbed by the thyroid gland. However, if it is too much, thyroid hormone treatment will be greatly affected. Also ensure the daily protein intake by eating more lean meat, eggs and milk.