Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and it is also the principle cause of death from cancer among women globally. For 2012, breast cancer figures were estimated [1]: 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer 63,300 new cases of in situ cancers, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). 39,510 breast cancer deaths. As widespread screening is detecting more women affected by breast cancer at younger ages and earlier stages, the need for minimally invasive, cosmetically...

A systematic literature research has been performed on PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane databases, cross-referencing major articles on the subject published from January 1990 to November 2012, including all clinical studies focused on minimally-invasive thermal ablation of breast cancer. A combination of keywords was used for the search strategy: radiofrequency (RFA), microwave (MWA), laser (LA), percutaneous, ablation, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), cryoablation, breast and cancer. A summary of the technical characteristics is shown in Table 1. Only English literatures were taken into account. Non-English literatures with...

We found 474 articles, 77 of which were included into analysis (RFA, n=34; cryoablation, n=14; HIFU, n=12, LA, n=10; MWA, n=7). A total of 2,032 women have been treated with these approaches: RFA, n=779; cryoablation, n=640; LA, n=274; HIFU, n=242; MWA, n=97. These and other results are reported on Tables 2 and 3.

DISCUSSION RFA RFA represents the most used technique to treat breast cancer with a minimally-invasive approach. In 1999, Jeffrey etal. performed the first study, enrolling 5 patients, aged 38-66,with locally advanced invasive breast cancer and treating them with preoperative radiofrequency ablation. Tumor size ranged from 4 to 7 cm, as measured by clinical investigation or mammography. Complete ablation was seen in 4 of 5 enrolled patients, with no complications[2]. In all other studies, tumor size ranged from 0.2 to 4 cm and patients’age ranged from...

[American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2012. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society. 2012.] [S.S. Jeffrey, R.L. Birdwell, D.M. Ikeda et al. , Radiofrequency ablation of breast cancer: first report of an emerging technology. Arch Surg, (1999) 134: pp. 1064–1068] [Van den Bosch M., Daniel B., Rieke V., et al.; MRI-guided radiofrequency ablation of breast cancer: preliminary clinical experience. J Magn Reson Imaging. (2008) 27 : pp.204-8.] [ Palussière J, Henriques C, Mauriac L, et al.; Radiofrequency ablation as a substitute for surgery in elderly...