To evaluate the clinical outcomes of image-guided thermal ablation versus thyroid lobectomy for the treatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

Inclusion Criteria:

1. solitary papillary thyroid carcinoma confirmed by fine-needle aspiration or core-needle biopsy;
2. largest diameter ≤10 mm;
3. no evidence of extrathyroidal extension( no signs of unsmooth thyroid capsule or involvement of the perithyroidal tissue) on ultrasound;
4. no evidence of cervical lymph node metastasis on US or neck CT;
5. no distant metastasis on chest CT;
6. no history of neck irradiation.

Exclusion Criteria:

• (1)aggressive subtype of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma confirmed by biopsy(1); (2)multiple tumors; (3) incomplete data or lost follow-up

There is not a plan to make IPD available because of the patients privacy.