title: Radiofrequency ablation for early-stage breast cancer: treatment outcomes and practical considerations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for early-stage breast cancer has the potential advantage of being a less invasive treatment associated with improved cosmetic outcome. The aim of this review was to summarise the reported treatment outcomes of ultrasound-guided RFA for early-stage breast cancer and to highlight practical considerations with regard to this treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search of the English-language literature concerning RFA for breast cancer treatment was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RFA is a technique that can be safely applied in patients with early-stage breast cancer, which is restricted to cT1-T2N0 ductal carcinoma with radiologically defined borders without any signs of multifocality or multicentricity. However, before RFA can be adopted as local therapy for early-stage breast cancer, more research is needed to assess the post-treatment pathological complete response and margin status, the long-term oncologic outcome in comparison to current standard breast conserving therapy and the potential cosmetic superiority of percutaneous RFA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RFA appeared to be a feasible technique for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer, but considerable practical considerations form an obstacle to introduce RFA as a standard of care.
authors.affiliation: Sint Franciscus Gasthuis, Department of Surgery, PO Box 10900, 3004 BA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: b.grotenhuis@sfg.nl.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Grotenhuis
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Vrijland
authors.forename: T M A L
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Klem
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional
keywords: Ablative therapy; Breast cancer; Radiofrequency ablation