Cryoablation will change the way breast cancer care is delivered and will conserve the breast. I hope that women who have a palpable mass or a region that can be seen on abnormal structural studies like a mammogram or ultrasound and who have an abnormal TH4 or TH5 thermography would be offered Cryoablation. Currently they are told, “Well we aren’t quite sure about this area. Please come back in 6 months and we can see if it is any larger”. The woman is frightened and has to wait around for 6 months of potential tumor doubling time to “See if it got bigger”.

If men can have their prostate cancers frozen in place, another Dr Littrup invention for the cryo equipment, then why aren’t women’s breast cancers taken care of in the same way ? ? ? There are insurance codes to bill insurances for cryo surgery/ cryoablation to freeze prostates, cervical cancers and skin lesions.

Women need to raise their voices to their providers, insurance companies, the press and women’s groups and breast cancer activist groups to DEMAND equal care to have our breast cancers treated and paid for by insurance companies like the men!

Breast cancer care now may cost over $25,000+ per woman for a simple lumpectomy as an out patient day surgery to about $65,000 to $67,500 for a mastectomy hospital experience with additional fees. I was able to gather some estimated costs as a ball park without the coresponding CPT codes that would make this more accurate. The In- patient hospital costs for a simple mastectomy with sentinel node biopsy averages about $60,000 which only covers the hospital facility. (Facility costs, which include IVs, medications, pre surgery nursing/ intake visit and anesthesiologist MD consulting pre surgery/ dressings etc and the post op unit facility only costs). There are additional fees for the anesthesiologist care during surgery (not listed here but needs to be added based on time). The surgeon’s pre op office visit averages $300-$600 and post surgery visits (not listed here/ variable as to how often the woman needs to return to see the surgeon and how long the visit is). There is also the surgeon’s fees for doing the procedure which is also based on time in the operating room ranges from about $1,400 to $3,500 ( for a modified mastectomy). Add to this the pathology reports for a core biopsy ranges from $192 to $400/ if a lumpectomy or mastectomy is done with more tissue to be evaluated that may be up to $1,000. There is preoperative lab work (not listed here for costs). In some cases overnight stays in the hospital for some mastectomy patients or women who may need a couple days to stabilize with drains etc( those costs variable for type of room and different hospital room fees by area).

Most breast cancer patients treated with a lumpectomy are then usually sent off to radiation oncology or medical oncology or both…..the costs for these service are on top of the lumpectomy charges above and are quite variable. What happens to mastectomy patients is also variable for after care by oncologists.

As you can clearly see, the insurances and the woman and her family would save quite a lot of money doing a safe outpatient/ office procedure taking 30-40 minutes with some Novocaine and a small dressing. The woman needs to discuss with her surgeon or radiologist who does the cryo ablation if anything further is needed for her after care. That is an individual decision.

I think the hold up in not having cryoablation moved from its “Investigational status” in the past 13 years and as of this writing, 3,800 successfully treated Chinese women, is that it is taking quite a lot of money out of the breast cancer industry’s pockets. The cancer industry would have been making sizeable money doing “Standard of Care ” treatment of mastectomy or lumpectomy with additional radiation, chemotherapy or estrogen blockade to follow the lumpectomy or mastectomy.

I am hoping to be included in an upcoming clinical study for cryoablation to do an infrared scan prior to cryo, 6 weeks post cryo and then 6 months later. If there is thermal activity the surgeon or radiologist could adjunctively use infrared thermography to help them locate the area that is still active thermally and do another cryo treatment to that area in case they did not get all of it the first time. Infrared has no radiation and is 100% pain/ risk free and women could be safely followed over time.

If you wish to be put on a list to be included in this potential cryo/ infrared study in the Pacific Northwest, please contact my office. In the mean time, women should be following my Proactive Breast Wellness protocol to reduce risk of breast cancer or its reoccurrence. The women are waiting for this information to “Protect OUR Breasts” !