New treatment could help breast cancer patients who aren't able to have surgery

BOSTON - A freezing treatment may help patients with breast cancer for whom surgery is not an option.  

Some people with breast cancer are not candidates for surgery due to age, heart disease, high blood pressure, because they are undergoing chemotherapy for another cancer or they choose not to, but a new technique may be an option for some of these patients.

 It's called cryoablation, and it involves inserting a needle-like probe into the breast to create an ice ball that surrounds the tumor and destroys tumor cells.  

Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York performed cryoablation on 60 patients with breast cancer who did not have surgery.  

When combined with radiation and hormonal therapy, only 10 percent of the study subjects experienced a recurrence of their cancer after 16 months, which the scientists say is incredibly promising.

In:
• Health
• Breast Cancer

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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