Radiofrequency ablation therapy for small breast cancer followed by immediate surgical resection or delayed mammotome excision.

BACKGROUND

There is increasing demand for minimally invasive treatment approaches. Although radiofrequency (RF) ablation therapy is promising for the local treatment of small, well-localized breast cancer, the problem of determining tumor cell death after RF ablation remains.

METHODS

In the first series of this study, 17 patients underwent surgical resection immediately after RF ablation and 7 patients received delayed mammotome excision in the second series. The ablated tumor tissue was examined histologically with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)-diaphorase staining to assess tumor cell viability.

RESULTS

Histological examination with H&E staining revealed a spectrum of changes ranging from complete coagulation necrosis to normal-appearing tumor cells, although the degenerative changes were more remarkable in the second than in the first series. However, NADH-diaphorase staining revealed no viable tumor cells in the ablated lesion in either series.

CONCLUSIONS

NADH-diaphorase staining is essential to assess the effects of RF ablation. However, further studies are needed to determine whether RF ablation may provide equivalent local control and survival compared with conventional BCT for patients with small breast cancer.