M
uriel Smith of Freehold stopped getting
yearly mammograms at 75. "Who needs
them at this age?" she thought.
Four years later, the offer of a $50 off spa gift
certificate with any mammogram at the Star & Barry
Tobias Women's Health Center at CentraState piqued
her interest, and Muriel, now 79, figured she had
nothing to lose.
To her surprise, her mammogram revealed a
suspicious breast lump, which was then confirmed to
be cancer. Muriel next met with a team of specialists,
including Mary Martucci, DO, board-certified and
fellowship-trained breast surgeon and director
of the Comprehensive Breast Care Program at
CentraState Medical Center, and Kenneth Tomkovich,
MD, board-certified interventional radiologist and
lead investigator for a research trial on the use of
cryoablation to treat breast cancer.
Muriel had two options: surgery to remove the tumor,
which is the current standard-of-care treatment, or
cryoablation, a technique that uses a needle-like
probe to freeze and potentially eradicate the tumor.
Muriel fit the trial criteria for age (over 65), tumor
type, and tumor size (1.5 cm or smaller). The choice
was up to Muriel.
For the past 10 years, cryoablation has been used
successfully to treat a number of other cancers as well
as benign breast tumors. Dr. Tomkovich concluded
that it could be effective in treating breast cancer,
and he initiated the trial in 2015, sponsored
by IceCure Medical, Inc.
CRYOABLATION
FREEZING SMALL TUMORS COULD BE THE TREATMENT OF THE FUTURE
ELIMINATING BREAST CANCER WITHOUT SURGERY
4 Fall 2016 Healthy Directions
