Microwave ablation

Has anyone had experience of microwave ablation? I have a small (2 cm) lesion on my liver, probably dumped there before I knew I had TNBC. But with no baseline scan, no one knows. As it’s small, contained, and as far as we know my only secondary, the plan is to remove it through microwave ablation. I am booked in for this on 13 Dec, procedure to be done under GA. They will take a biopsy first so they can be sure it is related to my TNBC and not something else. It’s been recommended as a better answer than resection as it has fewer operative and recovery risks and has far less recovery time. However it has a higher risk of cells being missed and there’s no complete tumour excision to send to pathology to check margins are clear. Just wondering what recovery is like and whether it has proved effective for anyone? 

Hi Coddfish,

I’ve only just started to hear about this as an option so I can’t help with what to expect but I’d be really interested to hear how you get on. I wonder how new this procedure is?

All the very best for the 13th. Have you posted a similar post elsewhere on the Secondary site eg the treatment forum, you’d reach a wider audience there.

Lancashire Lass

Sorry for the late reply… I have not had this myself but a good friend had ablative radiotherapy on a secondary breast cancer tumour in her brain. From what I remember, the procedure was straightforward and so was the recovery. That was a couple of years ago (so the technique might have changed/improved since) and she has had no recurrence so also seems very effective. My oncologist is an advocate, in his words “there are lots of very sophisticated radiotherapy techniques available today”.