FIRST PERSON | Surgery for small breast cancer tumors may soon be a thing of the past. A new procedure called cryoablation turns a tumor into a ball of ice. Instead of undergoing surgery to remove the tumor, a doctor can now freeze it. I like that idea.
Freezing tumors
The Telegraph reported on Dec. 10 that doctors are looking into cyroablation as a viable alternative to breast cancer surgery. Cryoablation is available in the United States, but it’s not usually performed on breast cancer tumors. The procedure is simple: A needle is inserted into the tumor and causes it to freeze. There is no need to remove the tumor, as it dies and the body absorbs it.
The needle is hooked up to specialized equipment, which is cooled to a chilly -274 degrees Fahrenheit. A network of tiny tubes deliver liquid nitrogen to the needle, and the physician controls the size of the “ice ball” delivered to the tumor. This allows the doctor to freeze breast cancer tumors as large as a golf ball.
Alternatives to surgery are needed
If cryoablation could be used as an alternative to breast cancer surgery, it would be wonderful. I had two surgeries for breast cancer. The first was a wire-guided surgical biopsy to determine if the tumor was actually cancerous, and then I had a mastectomy of my left breast several months later.
It would have been great to have the choice to opt out of surgery and instead have the tumor frozen. I would still have my left breast, and breast reconstruction would not have been an issue. Instead of undergoing a surgery that took more than 12 hours, I would have had a 15-minute procedure in a doctor’s office. Recovery time from surgery was more than a month. Cryoablation has little to no recovery time.
Hopefully, cryoablation will become a reality for breast cancer patients. Not all women will fall into the guidelines for this procedure, but many will. The medical community should look for any means possible to prevent the disfiguring surgeries current breast cancer treatment requires.
Lynda Altman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called “My Battle With Breast Cancer.”
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Freezing Breast Cancer Tumors Is Better Than Surgery
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Freezing Breast Cancer Tumors Is Better Than Surgery
