Cryoablation Therapy May Help Breast Cancer Patients Avoid Oral Complications

Clinical data from a study on cryoablation’s effects on small low-risk breast cancer tumors lend further support to the use of this minimally invasive treatment. Other modalities — such as chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy and surgery — often produce oral side effects, including loss of taste, xerostomia, or mouth and lip ulcers.

Interim results from IceCure Medical’s ICE3 clinical trial were presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. In the study, which was conducted at 19 U.S. hospitals and medical centers, 194 patients age 55 or older with low-risk, early stage breast cancer tumors (measuring up to 1.5 cm) were treated with cryoablation therapy. At three years posttreatment, four patients (or 2%) experienced cancer recurrence.

The trial, which commenced in 2014, determined that treatment was well tolerated and resulted in no loss of breast tissue. Additionally, cryoablation was shown to deliver “excellent cosmetic outcomes and minimal adverse events, while showing a risk of recurrence comparable to breast conservation surgery.”

Although cryoablation is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for managing other types of cancers, this determination has not yet been extended to breast cancer treatment. It is hoped that approval of this precision-medicine technique will sidestep the issue of oral side effects associated with conventional therapies, while simultaneously providing an effective, noninvasive treatment option for less aggressive cancers.

From Decisions in Dentistry. August 2021;7(8):8.