Israeli start-up freezes breast cancer in its tracks, without surgery

IceCure says that its cryoablation system can kill 
early-stage growths within minutes without surgery, let alone scarring.

By Inbal Orpaz for Haaretz

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women. Usually, treatment involves mastectomy and chemotherapy or radiation therapy. But there is a lesser-known alternative: cryoablation – to freeze the tumor in its tracks. Literally. No scarring, no hospital stay, though chemotherapy or radiation will still apply, IceCure Medical stresses.

This would be good news for women, given the American Association for Cancer Research projection of 440,000 breast cancer cases in 2030, compared with 283,000 in 2011. (Yes, that rate is faster than population growth, because of rising incidence in elderly women.)

Cryoablation has been around for 25 years and is commonly used to remove external skin blemishes, such as warts. Some companies, like IceCure, have developed it to freeze tumors too, but the Israeli company claims its technology is better.

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