Cryoablation of early-stage breast cancer: work-in-progress report of a multi-institutional trial.

Overview

BACKGROUND: With recent improvements in breast imaging, our ability to identify small breast tumors has markedly improved, prompting significant interest in the use of ablation without surgical excision to treat early-stage breast cancer. We conducted a multi-institutional pilot safety study of cryoablation in the treatment of primary breast carcinomas. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with ultrasound-visible primary invasive breast cancer 1.5 cm, cryoablation was not reliable with this technique. Patients with noncalcified DCIS were the cause of most cryoablation failures. CONCLUSIONS: Cryoablation is a safe and well-tolerated office-based procedure for the ablation of early-stage breast cancer. At this time, cryoablation should be limited to patients with invasive ductal carcinoma