Freezing Tumours at -40º: The New Breast Cancer Treatment in Alicante

Dr. Balmis General Hospital in Alicante has begun implementing an innovative technique for breast cancer treatment. This involves ultrasound-guided cryoablation, a safe and effective treatment for women with early-stage, low-risk breast cancer, offering an alternative to surgery.

As detailed by Dr. Mª Isabel Moya, a consultant in the Radiodiagnosis Department, "this is an ultrasound-guided technique involving the insertion of a very fine needle through a small skin incision, equipped with a system that reaches extreme cold temperatures, below -40ºC, achieving tumour freezing and destruction of cancer cells."

The procedure lasts less than an hour, during which the needle remains in the lesion site, performing several successive cycles of freezing and thawing.

It is a simple, safe, and painless radiological procedure performed with local anaesthesia on an outpatient basis, thus not requiring hospital admission. Moreover, it reduces post-surgical complications such as seromas, infections, haematomas, chronic pain, etc., and allows for quicker patient recovery.

The Breast Section, comprising Drs. José María Ballesteros, Sofía García Portela, Mª Isabel Moya, and Miriam Reche, along with nursing staff and supported by the Interventional Radiology Section led by Dr. Javier Irurzun, has successfully applied this percutaneous, minimally invasive technique for the first time on a 90-year-old patient, enhancing their healthcare services.

This service has extensive experience using this procedure for treating bone and soft tissue tumours by the Interventional Radiology Section, but it had not been applied for breast cancer treatment as its development in this area is more recent.

"It is also noteworthy that the cold, in synergy with other adjuvant therapies, generates an added therapeutic effect, as specific antigens are released that attack cancer cells; an immune response being studied in some national centres," explained the specialist.

Currently, breast cancer treatment is individualised and discussed in the Breast Pathology Committee, a multidisciplinary working group that brings together the services involved in the diagnostic and therapeutic process of malignant breast pathology, specifically Radiodiagnosis, Pathological Anatomy, Gynaecology, Plastic Surgery, and Medical Oncology.

The aim is to make decisions consensually and offer personalised treatment for each woman's situation. It meets weekly and annually evaluates around 230 new breast cancer cases.

Conservative surgery is the treatment of choice for most breast cancer patients. However, as Dr. Moya pointed out, "cryoablation is an effective, safe, and less aggressive alternative, offering significant benefits over surgical treatment for a selected patient profile: women with low-risk, small tumours who cannot undergo surgery for various reasons, such as advanced age, multiple pathologies, anaesthetic risk, etc."

"Thanks to screening programmes and improved imaging techniques, we are detecting smaller tumours, making cryoablation a promising future substitute for surgery in low-risk carcinomas," Dr. Moya emphasised.