Months for clarification

Long waiting times for thyroid nodules

Thyroid nodules are benign in most cases, but should be clarified.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Patients usually have to wait several months for thyroid nodules to be diagnosed. Nuclear medicine specialists warn that the reasons for this include department mergers and staff shortages. They are calling for measures to combat this bottleneck.

From the age of 50, around one in three people in Austria has a thyroid nodule, and from the age of 65 it is even more than one in two. Women are more frequently affected than men. In the vast majority of cases, the nodules are benign, but they can also affect the function of the thyroid gland or cause symptoms such as a feeling of pressure in the throat.

The size and tissue composition can be examined using an ultrasound scan. From a diameter of one centimeter, a lump should be investigated further using nuclear medicine to rule out malignancy. However, according to the specialists, there is not enough care available.

No direct billing with ÖGK
"Hospitals are increasingly having to outsource less complex nuclear medicine services such as thyroid assessment and treatment to extramural institutes or surgeries. Although there are a few such facilities in each federal state, only a few of them can bill directly to the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK)," it says in a press release. The number of appointments available is limited and it is usually necessary to wait several months for clarification.

Four years ago, the specialists' association had already drawn up a catalog of nuclear medicine services with tariff proposals and submitted it to the Austrian Medical Association (ÖAK) and ÖGK. So far, negotiations have not even taken place, the doctors criticized on Friday.

Due to the de facto lack of opportunities to go into private practice, too few young doctors decide to train in nuclear medicine because they do not see sufficient career opportunities.

Fachärztegesellschaft

Too few do training
The specialists' association also sees a difficulty in the fact that too few young doctors decide to train in nuclear medicine. Around a fifth would work in fields such as radiology and internal medicine after their training. The supply bottleneck must be counteracted.