One surgeon in Memphis is conducting trials on a breast cancer treatment that could keep some patients out of the operating room.
Doctors in about 20 sites across the country are using liquid nitrogen to freeze tumors and kill diseased cells.
This technology takes a probe that goes into the center of the breast cancer and liquid nitrogen causes a rapid freezing of the tumor from the inside out. The probe creates a rapid ice ball that surrounds the breast cancer to about one centimeter beyond the limits of the cancer.
The IceSense3 Technology by IceCure has been used for several years to treat all types of cancers.
The most recent trials are focusing on women over 65 years old with smaller tumors that would normally respond to other treatments like lumpectomies.
Generally other trials which observe the effectiveness of freezing a tumor, remove the tumor after a period of time to show that all the cancer was killed. On the other hand, this study actually leaves the cancer in the body and allows the body to reabsorb the cancer.
Patients that participate in the study describe the IceSense3 procedure as something as simple as visiting the dentist’s office. There is hardly any discomfort or scarring and patients are able to maintain their daily routines.
Trials have be done on around 160 women.
The treatment takes less than 30 minutes and there is little to no recovery time.
If results from the trials continue to be positive, doctors said that they would look at treating more aggressive cancers.