Microwave ablation of benign breast tumors: a prospective study with minimum 12 months follow-up

AbstractPurpose: This prospective study was to evaluate clinical outcomes of microwave ablation (MWA) of benign breast tumors with minimum 12 months follow up.Methods: With approval of the institutional ethics committee and written informed consent, 56 patients with 107 biopsy-proved breast benign tumors were recruited from November, 2013 to April, 2017. MWA with ultrasound (US) guidance was performed under local anesthesia. During the procedure, pull-back technique was used for tumors larger than 1.0 cm in diameter and hydro-dissection technique was used for tumors adjacent to skin, pectoralis and areola. Clinical outcomes were followed up by physical examination and medical images including US, contrast enhanced US and MR.Results: The maximum diameter of these tumors was 1.6 ± 0.8 cm. MWA was successfully performed with the median 120 s of duration (ranging 20–1100 s). Technical success was achieved in all patients. At the median follow-up of 20.5 months (ranging 12–53 months), the mean volume reduction...