Where informed patients make confident treatment decisions.
Save Your Thyroid with Jennifer Holkem
Save Your Thyroid with Jennifer Holkem
Thyroid nodules impact 70 percent of adults in their lifetime. The standard of care is surgical removal of half or all of the gland. But in recent years, nonsurgical treatment options have become available. Hi, my name is Jennifer Holkem and I advocate for fellow patients suffering with this very common condition. I sit down with patients and physicians and discuss life with thyroid nodules, the journey from diagnosis to treatment, and how to save your thyroid through nonsurgical advances in medicine.
Jan. 27, 2026

Your Goiter Is NOT Too Big — A TAE Expert Explains | Dr. Juan Camacho | Save Your Thyroid

If you've been told your thyroid goiter is too large for RFA and that surgery — possibly including a sternotomy — is your only option, this episode is for you.

Dr. Juan Camacho is a leader in Interventional Radiology at Radiology Associates of Florida and Sarasota Memorial. He joins Jennifer Holkem to discuss Pressure-Enabled Thyroid Artery Embolization — PED-TAE — a nonsurgical treatment showing remarkable results for massive goiters that thermal ablation can't adequately address.

While RFA is often ineffective for thyroid volumes exceeding 20 mL, Dr. Camacho's clinical research shows a 73% mean volume reduction in massive goiters averaging 117 mL using PED-TAE. That's a game-changing number for patients who have been told nothing nonsurgical is available for their size.

In this episode:

Why large multinodular goiters often require more than thermal ablation
How PED-TAE uses pressure to shrink thyroid tissue while preserving organ function
Results from Dr. Camacho's latest publication on euthyroid conversion and safety
The new 10-site multicenter PROTECT Registry study for thyroid embolization
How to find a PED-TAE physician near you

Contact Dr. Camacho: precisionimageguided@gmail.com
PROTECT Registry physicians: Available at saveyourthyroid.org
Recent publication: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12301183
Find a physician near you: saveyourthyroid.org
Book a navigation consult: saveyourthyroidwithjen.com/patient-navigation-services

Are you being told your thyroid goiter is too large for Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) and that surgery is your only option? In this first episode SEASON 7 of Save Your Thyroid, Jennifer Holkem sits down with Dr. Juan Camacho, a leader in Interventional Radiology at Radiology Associates of Florida/Sarasota Memorial, to discuss a game-changing nonsurgical treatment: Pressure-Enabled Thyroid Artery Embolization (PED-TAE).

While RFA is often ineffective for thyroid volumes exceeding 20 mL, Dr. Camacho’s recent clinical research shows a 73% mean volume reduction in massive goiters (averaging 117 mL) using pressure enabled thyroid artery embolization (PED-TAE).

In this video, you will learn:

-Why large multinodular goiters often require more than just thermal ablation.

-How PED-TAE uses pressure to shrink thyroid tissue while preserving organ function.

-The results of Dr. Camacho’s latest publication on euthyroid conversion and safety.

-Information on the new 10-site multi-center registry study for thyroid embolization.

If you are looking for a nonsurgical way to treat a large goiter or want to avoid a sternotomy, this interview is a must-watch.

Contact Dr. Juan Camacho: precisionimageguided@gmail.com

Key resources:

-Dr. Juan Camacho on BackTable Podcast:

https://youtu.be/qH-S_8_D4eY?si=A9imME1r7ELJvOAJ

-Clinical Registry (Protect Trial):

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06868459?cond=thyroid&intr=embolization&rank=3

-Recent Publication:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12301183/

This paper summarizes follow-up data from the first U.S. and international patients treated using the pressure-enabled technique.

PROTECT Registry PED-TAE Physicians:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xzj2PMN8BapM3JzYxbbj-84RT_zX44A852oboYCRP44/edit?usp=sharing

Alexander Lam — alexander.lam@ucsf.edu (UCSF)

Catherine T. Vu — catvu@health.ucdavis.edu (UC Davis Health)

Ricardo Paz-Fumagalli, MD — paz.ricardo@mayo.edu (Mayo Clinic / Jacksonville)

Alan Reeves — areeves2@kumc.edu (University of Kansas Medical Center)

Daniel Scher — dscher@mfa.gwu.edu (George Washington University)

Shawn Sarin — ssarin@mfa.gwu.edu (George Washington University)

Stephen Reis, MD — sr3321@cumc.columbia.edu (Columbia University Irving Medical Center)

David Dwyer — david.dwyer@jefferson.edu (Thomas Jefferson University)

Joseph Marion — joseph.marion@essentiahealth.org (Essentia Health)

Govindarajan (Raj) Narayanan — gnarayanan@baptisthealth.net; raj.narayanan@radpartners.com (Baptist Health / Miami Vascular Institute)

Charles Hua — huacharl@uw.edu (University of Washington)

Vijay Ramalingam — vramali1@bidmc.harvard.edu (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)

John J. Schmitz, MD — schmitz.john@mayo.edu (Mayo Clinic / Rochester)

Waleed Brinjikji, MD — brinjikji.waleed@mayo.edu (Mayo Clinic / Rochester)

Richard Marshall — rmarshal@tulane.edu (Tulane University)

Disclaimer: None of the statements made in this or any other video by Jennifer Holkem or "Its me Jen again" should be considered medical advice.

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Resources:

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👉Patient site: https://www.saveyourthyroid.org/

👉Private FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/saveyourthyroidnonsurgical

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Beyond the Scalpel: How Pressure-Enabled Embolization is Shrinking Massive Goiters For years, patients facing the diagnosis of a massive, compressive goiter were given a single, terrifying path forward. When a thyroid grows so large that it dives …