Cancer Surgery

Thanks for the question - cryoablation is fascinating technology, and involves freezing a lesion and then essentially letting nature run it's course. The freezing destroys the tumor cells, and the body then reabsorbs the dead cells. Cryoablation is not new technology, and has been used for some time for tumors of the liver, prostate and kidney. In my practice, it is a standard option for fibroadenomas, which are bengin breast tumors. While cryoablation is still at this time considered to be experimental for breast cancer, a national trial which hopefully should complete enrollment sometime this year is showing promising results. In addition to destroying the tumor without surgery, some early studies have suggested that there is an immune response to the the ablated tumor - anti-tumor antibodies may form...could this be a type of auto-vaccine? Time will tell, but I am so excited about the possibility to have an option besides surgery for selected patients with early stage breast cancer! Here's a link with more information about the clinical trial: http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search/view?cdrid=600976&version=Patient&protocolsearchid=5787655