Freezing Tumors That Cause Metastatic Cancer for long term relief

[Joy]

Could this be used as a treatment even without pain?

[heblaj01]

Joy,
Your assumption is right.
Under certain conditions cryoablation can treat cancer effectively & with much reduced pain, reduced scarring, no anesthesia,no or short hospital stay.
In the case of breast cancer, cryoablation is applicable to single tumors less than 1.5cm & is no more invasive & difficult than a core needle biopsy both of which can be done in a doctor's office:
http://www.touchbriefings.com/pdf/1438/Kaufman.pdf.
Cryoablation – The Next Advance in Breast Cancer Care?

An other recent example of the use of cryoablation:
http://patient.cancerconsultants.com/news.aspx?id=38656
Cryoblation May Help Preserve Voice in Glottic Cancer

For men with either BHP or prostate cancer cryoablation is also possible:

Endocare's prostate cancer study reveals 100 survival after 8 years following cryoablation

But the most common application of cryosurgery remains outside the field of cancer : the cataract operation which runs in the millions every year.
And here the aim is not kill the crystalin but to solidify its normally soft consistancy so that it can be brocken up into small particles (under ultrasound vibration) easily extracted from the eye through a minimal size hole.

[Bev]

For primary BC, I don't think they have progressed to just freezing them and moving on. My surgeon was involved in a cryro study and she was using it to localize the tumor to get good margins, then surgery and node work as usual. Something to look forward to in the future BB