Innovative Treatments for HUGE Goiters and Thyroid Cancer: Prof. Saim Yilmaz
SAVE YOUR THYROID with Jennifer Holkem: Episode #87
Coming up in this episode:
“Interventional radiology is an interesting branch because, unlike other disciplines of the medicine, you're not dealing with one sort of patient group…So you deal with a lot of different patients. So I think this gives you some advantage of creativity because in one place or in one particular patient group, if you think that a treatment is good, then you can easily adopt it to another patient group or another procedure. So I always think what [is there that] I can do for my patients in a better way or in a new way.” — Prof. Saim Yilmaz, Turkey
Today’s guest is Professor Saim Yilmaz, an interventional radiologist practicing in Istanbul and Antalya, Turkey. Throughout his 40 year medical career, Professor Yılmaz has worked exclusively in this unique specialty, treating patients with multiple image-guided, minimally invasive treatments. He is a pioneer of nonsurgical thyroid treatments. In 2018, Prof. Yilmaz founded Varisson Interventional Radiology Clinics where he leads a team of 5 doctors and 19 staff. He speaks English, French and German. In today’s conversation, we will focus primarily on 2 nonsurgical thyroid procedures for the treatment of thyroid nodules and cancers: Cryoablation and Embolization.
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What is this podcast and blog all about?
To my subscribers, welcome back! If you’re new, welcome to Save Your Thyroid, a podcast and blog all about thyroid nodules. My name is Jennifer Holkem, and I advocate for fellow patients suffering with this very common condition. Thyroid nodules impact 70% of adults in their lifetime, and the standard of care is surgical removal of half or all of the gland. But in recent years, safe and effective non-surgical treatment options have become available.
In this podcast and blog, I sit down with patients and physicians to discuss life with thyroid nodules, treatment options, and how to save the thyroid whenever possible.
Key Takeaways:
Embolization is a good alternative to surgery for patients with large goiters and Graves' disease.
Cryoablation is an effective treatment for thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer.
Careful patient selection is important for the success of these procedures.
Embolization and cryoablation have advantages over other treatments in terms of safety and efficacy.
Follow-up is necessary to monitor the outcomes of these procedures and detect any potential complications.
These procedures preserve the thyroid and avoid the risks associated with surgery or radioactive iodine treatment.
Factors such as age, size of the thyroid, and fertility preservation should be considered when deciding on the appropriate treatment for toxic thyroid nodules and Graves Disease.
Combining embolization with other ablation techniques can enhance the outcomes.
Thorough evaluation, including ultrasound, hormone level tests, and biopsy results, is crucial in determining the best course of action.
The goal of this podcast and blog
I seek to provide data, resources, and expert opinions on the topic of thyroid nodules, and make it accessible to patients. When I was first looking for thermal ablation treatment, everything that I read was physician-facing material. It was very hard for me to understand. This material is meant to help patients understand what's going on in their thyroid gland and what an important gland it is. If you can keep your thyroid intact, that's going to help you live a longer, healthier life, and preserve your quality of life. Thanks for reading this far today! — Jen
Thank you to the sponsor of this episode, Cambridge Interventional.
Cambridge Interventional, a US-based company, has decades of experience in development, manufacturing, and sales of RFA and other medical devices. Radiofrequency ablation is a nonsurgical, minimally invasive, thermal ablation procedure used to treat various tumors, including thyroid nodules. If you have followed this blog for very long, you probably know that I personally underwent thyroid RFA treatment for a very large thyroid nodule and was able to avoid surgery and save my thyroid. If you’d like to learn more about Cambridge Interventional, please visit their website CambridgeInterventional.com. A big thanks goes out to Cambridge Interventional for helping physicians to save thyroids, and also for supporting this channel by sponsoring this episode.
👉Learn more about Cambridge Interventional
Connect with Prof. Saim Yilmaz:
👉https://www.thyroid-goiter.com/
Disclaimer: None of the statements made in this or any other video by "Its me Jen again" should be considered medical advice.
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