Remove Breast Cancers without Surgery

For Release: April 10, 2000

Radio-Frequency Instruments Can Help Radiologists Remove Breast Cancers with No Need for Surgery

Radiologists armed with a new family of instruments using radio-frequency (RF) energy will, in the next several years, be able to cut out breast cancers while making only a tiny incision, a national expert predicts.

Dr. Steve H. Parker, a radiologist with the Sally Jobe Breast Centre in Denver, reported on this new type of procedure at the 29th National Conference on Breast Cancer in San Francisco, April 10. The meeting is sponsored by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

"The RF let's us easily penetrate the densest breast tissues," Dr. Parker explained. RF instruments can then be configured in many different ways. One configuration is a guiding cover for biopsy needles, another uses a number of wires to locate the cancer. Although these instruments are currently under clinical investigation, they appear to be very promising adjuncts to increasingly effective breast cancer diagnosis, he added.

"Surgeons already have found the wire device to be extremely useful in guiding their surgery," according to Dr. Parker. "It allows them to remove the cancer by making only a small incision in the breast, allowing for accurate diagnosis while removing the least possible amount of tissue."

Ultimately, perhaps in several years, radiologists can make an incision in the breast guided by RF and use non-surgical techniques----like heat or cold---- to kill the cancer, he predicted.

Overall, RF technology opens up a whole range of possible treatments using minimally invasive techniques. "First we had total mastectomy, then less radical surgery, then lumpectomy and radiation therapy and now the next step, even more minimal surgery," Dr. Parker said. Finally, there will be the non-surgical destruction of the cancer.

Two other tools also are helping physicians better treat breast cancer using less invasive treatments, he noted.

Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows radiologists to select those patients who are the best candidates for these treatments. Sentinel node biopsy is a minimally invasive procedure that involves pinpointing only one or two lymph nodes to be removed. In the past, many more had to be removed when breast cancer was diagnosed.

The American College of Radiology is a major medical association with more 32,000 members worldwide. The membership includes diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists and medical physicists.

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