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Cryoablation is a groundbreaking new treatment for breast tumor freezing. Cryoablation has been used for many years on liver, skin, and cervical cancers, as well as benign tumours of the breast. It is not until recently, however, that cryoablation has been adapted to treat breast cancer. The results of a national study co-authored by Dr. Holmes found cryoablation to be most effective at killing invasive breast cancers measuring 2cm or smaller. However, certain patients may undergo cryoablation of larger tumours if multiple ablations are used to treat the entire tumour and surrounding margins.

How is Cryoablation performed?
The cryoablation procedure is similar to having an ultrasound-guided needle biopsy of the breast. The procedure is performed in the office with the patient awake and comfortable. First, ultrasound of the breast is performed to identify the location of the cancer. Next, local anesthetic is injected into the skin and into the interior of the breast. A small (3 mm) skin incision is made followed by the insertion of a needle-like instrument called a cryoprobe through the centre of the breast cancer using ultrasound to guide the way. The cryoablation system is then turned on and liquid nitrogen circulates within the cryoprobe to freeze the cancer and a surrounding rim of normal tissue to a temperature of minus 20 Celsius. The freezing process takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, and the entire procedure typically takes about 1 hour from start to finish.