Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of breast cancer: A multicenter retrospective analysis.

Abstract

1119 Background: Local ablative therapy of breast cancer represents the next frontier in the minimally invasive breast-conservation treatment. We performed a retrospective study of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of breast cancers to determine safety and complication related to this treatment. Methods: Four hundred and ninety-seven patients with core biopsy proven breast carcinoma in 10 institutions of non-surgical ablaton study group underwent RFA without surgical excision were enrolled in this study. Results: Mean patient age was 54 years (range 22 - 92 years). Mean tumor size was 1.6 cm. Four hundred and twenty-five tumors ( 86 %) were ≤ 2 cm. The median follow-up period was 50 months (range 3 – 92 months). The mean required for ablation was 19 minutes (range, 4- 72 minutes), and the average temperature of the tumor after ablation was 91 degrees Celsius. The local recurrence rate after RFA was higher in tumors of negative estrogen receptor (8 of 78, 10%) than in tumors of positive estrogen receptor (17 of 437, 4%; p<0.05), and was higher in tumors of positive HER2/neu than in tumors of negative HER2/neu (14.9% vs. 3.2%; p<0.01). The local recurrence rate after RFA was higher in tumors of positive node than in tumors of negative node (9.8% vs. 3.6%), and was higher in tumors without irradiation than in tumors with irradiation (18.2% vs. 3.2%; p<0.001). The local recurrence rate after RFA was higher in tumors of > 2 cm (13 of 72, 18%) than in tumors of ≤ 2 cm (11 of 425, 3%; p<0.001). RFA-relating adverse events were observed in 17 patients of local pain, 14 patients of skin burn and 4 patients of retraction of nipple. Conclusions: RFA is considered to be a safe and promising minimally invasive treatment of small breast cancer ≤ 2 cm in diameter. Further studies are necessary to optimize the technique and evaluate its future role as local therapy for breast cancer.