Efficacy and safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound versus cryoablation for breast fibroadenomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Description

YuanFeng Zhao, Jian Sun, and Shuai Lin compare two needle-free or minimally invasive ways to shrink benign breast lumps without surgery. Fibroadenomas are common and usually harmless, but patients often want them gone. High-intensity focused ultrasound cooks them with sound; cryoablation freezes them. Head-to-head trials do not exist.

Searching three databases through late twenty twenty-five yielded seventeen prospective single-arm studies. Focused ultrasound shrank tumors about fifty-four percent by six months and seventy percent by twelve, though results varied widely. Cryoablation's reporting was too incomplete to pool, but descriptively suggested greater shrinkage. Side effects were more frequent with ultrasound, about twenty-three percent versus seven, and none were severe in either group.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13175805