UKC Nis: first microwave ablation of thyroid tumors
Three patients with benign nodules were treated without a surgical incision. What UKC Nis said about the method, who performed it and what the published details leave out.
Can a thyroid tumor be treated without a single cut? In carefully selected patients it can, and the University Clinical Center Nis (UKC Nis) announced in early November 2026 that it has used the method for the first time, on three female patients.
What exactly was done in Nis?
The procedure is microwave ablation (MWA) of benign thyroid tumors. In all three patients, a biopsy had previously confirmed that the nodules were benign.
The procedures were performed by Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Karanikolic and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miodrag Djordjevic of the Clinic for Endocrine Surgery and Breast Surgery at UKC Nis, together with Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Caidas, an otolaryngology specialist from Thessaloniki, Greece. The Greek physician’s surname is spelled differently in published reports, as Caidas and as Cajdas.
Surgeons and radiologists from the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia and the Zemun Clinical Hospital Center also attended the procedures.
How does treatment without a surgical incision work?
Microwave energy heats the tissue of the nodule and breaks it down, while aiming to spare the surrounding healthy structures. The hospital’s statement says:
Unlike the conventional surgical approach, this method does not require a surgical incision
According to the same statement, in carefully selected patients the method can mean less strain on the body, faster recovery, a shorter hospital stay and a quicker return to everyday activities. That is the institution’s own claim, not an independent study, so read it as “can”, not “guarantees”.
Who is this considered for?
Three things can be drawn from the statement:
- the nodules must be benign, and in these three cases a biopsy confirmed it
- the hospital speaks of carefully selected patients, not of everyone who has a nodule on the thyroid
- whether the method is right for you is decided by a doctor after an examination and test results, not by an article
What do the published details leave out?
The reports do not say on which day the procedures were performed, what kind of anesthesia was used, how long each procedure took or when the patients were discharged. Until that is published, the speed of recovery remains a promise from the statement, not a measured result.
Why is UKC Nis highlighting this?
Acting director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Milan Lazarevic said in the statement:
We do not want patients from southern Serbia to have to travel to other medical centers to get modern treatment methods. We want the latest medical advances to reach UKC Nis and be available to our patients.
Lazarevic added that the goal is to introduce new procedures that allow better treatment and faster recovery, where medically justified. UKC Nis says it will keep introducing modern treatment methods, so that patients from southern and southeastern Serbia can receive as many procedures as possible in Nis.
