Breast Cancer News:

Study Seeks to Determine Whether Radiofrequency Ablation Can Help Following Lumpectomy

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researchers are conducting a study involving 30 breast cancer patients to determine whether radiofrequency ablation (RFA)-assisted lumpectomy procedure can help breast cancer patients.

The study is designed to determine the patient benefits of using RFA to ablate, or sear, a one-centimeter margin or perimeter of soft tissue following standard lumpectomy removal of a breast tumor.

The procedure is intended to give the patient a cancer-free area around the site where the tumor has been removed so that repeat lumpectomies are unnecessary. The procedure may also offer similar protection against recurrence provided by the use of partial or whole breast radiation, the current standard of care following lumpectomy.

"Our goal is to change the way breast cancer is treated for the more than 100,000 women in the United States who undergo traditional lumpectomy for early stage breast cancer each year," said Suzanne Klimberg, MD, professor of surgery and pathology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Klimberg said initial laboratory research found that RFA was effective in creating negative margins around small breast tumor. “With the study we hope to prove that we can reduce the high re-operative rates associated with lumpectomy and offer added assurance that the cancer will not recur in these patients," she added.

The success of the trial will be used to determine the feasibility of conducting further studies to evaluate the ability of RFA-assisted lumpectomy to decrease the rates of re-operation associated with standard lumpectomy. Qualified patients with operable breast cancer will be treated with a combination of two available and reliable treatments -- lumpectomy and RFA.

The trial will also seek to determine whether local recurrence rate is reduced by using RFA-assisted lumpectomy. Because RFA will be administered in addition to procedures of demonstrated efficacy, it is expected the local recurrence rate will decrease.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of Novmeber 6, 2004