Progressive adoption of cryoablative therapy for breast fibroadenoma in community practice

Background: Cryoablation is a recent technological advance and has been used for the percutaneous treatment of breast fibroadenomas. Herein, we provide a retrospective summary of the early experience from a nationwide group. Methods: We organized a national registry to document the community practice and adoption of an office-based system of cryoablation for breast fibroadenoma. Data were abstracted during the first 6 weeks after the procedure to assess acute outcome and potential complications. At 6-and 12-month follow-up intervals, additional data were collected regarding fibroadenoma resolution, cosmesis, and patient satisfaction. Results: Fifty-three sites ablated 310 fibroadenomas. Early follow-up data on 256 lesions showed that the procedure was well tolerated with infrequent minor complications immediately after the procedure. At 6 and 12 months postprocedure, the remaining fibroadenoma volume progressively involuted. At both intervals, cosmesis was excellent, and patient satisfaction was rated high. Conclusions: An early community experience with office-based cryoablation of breast fibroadenomas is encouraging and comparable to the initial experience of high-volume tertiary centers. More follow-up is necessary to determine long-term results and residual mammographic changes. (C) 2004 Excerpta Medica Inc. All rights reserved.