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Radiofrequency ablation of small breast cancer followed by surgical resection
Author(s) -
Noguchi Masakuni,
Earashi Mitsuharu,
Fujii Hisatake,
Yokoyama Koichi,
Harada Kenichi,
Tsuneyama Koichi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.20398
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , coagulative necrosis , h&e stain , ablation , axillary lymph node dissection , radiofrequency ablation , biopsy , sentinel lymph node , radiology , mastectomy , lymph node , cancer , surgery , pathology , staining
Background With the growing demand from patients for less‐invasive procedures, the shift from surgical extirpation to ablative local control of breast tumors is an emerging focus in breast cancer care. This study was performed to determine the feasibility and safety of treating small breast cancer with radiofrequency (RF) ablation. Methods Patients with biopsy‐proven invasive or non‐invasive breast cancer underwent RF ablation under general anesthesia. Before RF ablation, all patients were confirmed to have a localized lesion using imaging modalities. Wide excision or total mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection was performed. The resected tumor was examined histologically with hematoxylin‐eosin (H&E) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide‐diaphorase (NADH) staining. Results Ten patients completed the treatment without RF ablation‐related complications. The mean tumor size was 1.1 cm (range: 0.5–2.0 cm). Histological evaluation of the ablated tissue using H&E staining revealed a spectrum of changes ranging from complete coagulation necrosis of tumor cells to normal‐appearing tumor cells. However, NADH‐diaphorase showed no staining of viable tumor cells in the RF‐ablated region in all of the patients. Conclusions RF ablation is promising as a minimally invasive ablation technique in the local treatment of invasive or non‐invasive breast cancer. However, further study is necessary before RF ablation can replace conventional breast conservation therapy for patients with small breast cancer. J. Surg. Oncol. 2006;93: 120–128. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.