A Cohort Study of Combined Cryoablation and Thermal Ablation for Non-surgical Treatment of Breast Cancer Patients

November 15, 2025 updated by: Shu Wang, Peking University People's Hospital

Peking University People's Hospital Breast Surgery Department

Although surgical resection is the gold standard for early breast cancer treatment, some patients cannot tolerate surgery due to medical conditions or refuse surgical treatment for cosmetic reasons. In recent years, the rapid development of ablation technology has provided new directions for breast cancer patients who are not suitable for surgical treatment. Ablation uses high or low temperatures to deactivate lesions or tissues, which are gradually absorbed by the body, achieving local treatment purposes. Its safety and efficacy have been preliminarily confirmed. As an advanced minimally invasive medical device independently developed in China, the combined cryo-thermal ablation system treats tumors using a combined mode of deep cryogenic freezing and high-intensity heating. It has been approved for ablation treatment of various solid tumors including lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

This project proposes a prospective cohort design, based on the breast disease cohort database of Peking University People's Hospital Breast Center. It will enroll patients pathologically diagnosed with breast cancer, determined unsuitable for surgical treatment, and have received combined cryo-thermal ablation. The registered data will be used to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of percutaneous ultrasound-guided cryo-thermal composite ablation in this population.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

1. Study Design

  1. Prospective Cohort Study Study Subjects and Selection Criteria
  2. This study is based on the breast disease cohort database of Peking University People's Hospital Breast Center. Patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer who refused, were intolerant of, or unsuitable for surgical treatment and received combined cryoablation and thermal ablation were prospectively enrolled.

The specific inclusion and exclusion criteria are as follows:

  1. Inclusion Criteria (all conditions must be met):

    ≥18 years old; Breast cancer confirmed by core needle biopsy; Tumor lesions clearly visible on ultrasound; No contraindications for cryoablation such as coagulation disorders;

    Presence of reasons unsuitable for conventional surgical resection:

    Patients intolerant to general anesthesia or surgical treatment due to medical conditions; Due to unresectable and/or metastatic disease; Patient refusal of surgery, etc.; Agree to undergo ablation surgery and sign the informed consent form.

  2. Exclusion Criteria (Participants will be excluded if any of the following apply):

Missing clinical and pathological data (such as imaging or pathological materials); Pregnant or lactating women; Known allergies, intolerance, or contraindications to cryotherapy (such as cryoglobulinemia, presence of implanted electronic devices); Vulnerable populations, including those with neurological disorders, cognitive impairments, critically ill patients, etc.

3)Grouping of Study Subjects This study is a prospective cohort study. The decision to undergo combined cold and heat ablation therapy was made through mutual consultation between patients and attending physicians, while the remaining systemic treatments were not affected by the study.Cohort 1: Ablation therapy for patients who cannot tolerate standard surgery due to advanced age or comorbidities;Cohort 2: Ablation therapy for patients with unresectable/metastatic diseases who are not suitable for surgical resection;Cohort 3: Ablation therapy chosen by patients who refuse surgical treatment for personal reasons.

4)Research Steps Screen patients who meet the inclusion criteria and exclude those who meet the exclusion criteria.

Collect patients' clinicopathological data: age, menstrual status, accompanying diseases; tumor imaging information, including ultrasound, mammography, MRI reports, tumor size, and axillary lymph node status; pathological information, including pathological type, histological grade, hormone receptor status, and postoperative adjuvant treatment plans.

Breast primary tumors receive standard combined cryoablation and thermal ablation treatment, and collect imaging and histological laboratory data during and after treatment.

Retrieve patients' prognosis information from the follow-up database, including recurrence, metastasis, second primary tumor, and mortality events.

5)Follow-up Plan and Contents:

Postoperative Complications (within 3 months):

Skin damage Poor incision healing Infection Seroma formation Nipple or flap ischemia/necrosis

Survival-related Follow-up:

Recurrence Metastasis Second primary tumor Mortality events

Follow-up Methods:

Telephone WeChat client of Peking University People's Hospital Follow-up System Follow-up Interval: 6 months Follow-up Duration: More than 5 years 6)Selection and Confirmation of Primary Measurement Indicators or Outcome Measures

Primary Study Endpoint - Safety:

Intraoperative complications (e.g., bleeding, vascular/nerve injury) Postoperative complications (infection, hematoma, frostbite, breast deformity, paresthesia, etc.), recorded according to CTCAE v5.0 classification Local tumor recurrence rate (Ipsilateral Breast Cancer Recurrence, IBTR): defined as the time from surgery to ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence, with the occurrence of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence as the event

Secondary Study Endpoints:

Disease-free survival (DFS): time from study enrollment to the first occurrence of failure events, including ipsilateral local-regional recurrence, contralateral breast cancer, distant recurrence, or death from any cause Overall survival (OS): time from study enrollment to death from any cause Exploratory analysis: using specimen bank preserved samples and imaging data to analyze post-ablation tumor tissue pathological response, blood immune function assessment, and the correlation between postoperative imaging (MRI/ultrasound) characteristics and recurrence risk All data collection is sourced from the established Peking University People's Hospital Breast Disease Cohort Database (PKUPH Breast Disease Cohort).

7)The primary study outcome was a local IBTR at 5 years through the width of the 95% confidence interval (CI). A sample size was calculated for this outcome. For a two-sided 95% exact Clopper Pearson confidence interval of the IBTR rate whose true value was 5%, a sample size of 200 patients was required to yield a half-width of 5% at most with more than 99% power. In this context, power is the probability (conditional method) of obtaining a confidence interval a half-width less than or equal to the hypothesized value.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • China
      • Beijing, China, 100000
        • Recruiting
        • Peking University People's Hospital
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 1) Aged 18 or above; 2) Breast cancer confirmed by core needle biopsy; 3) Tumor lesions clearly visible on ultrasound; 4) No contraindications for cryoablation such as coagulation disorders; 5) Presence of reasons unsuitable for conventional surgical resection: patient's condition cannot tolerate general anesthesia or surgical treatment; due to unresectable and/or metastatic disease; patient refuses surgery, etc.; 6) Agree to undergo ablation surgery and sign the consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 1) Missing clinical and pathological data (such as imaging and pathological materials); 2) Pregnant or lactating women; 3) Known allergies, intolerances, or contraindications to cryotherapy (such as cryoglobulinemia, presence of implanted electronic devices); 4) Vulnerable populations, including those with neurological disorders, cognitive impairments, critically ill patients, etc.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Combined Cryoablation and Thermal Ablation for Non-surgical Treatment of Breast Cancer Patients
Device: Combined Cryoablation and Thermal Ablation system
The combined cold and heat ablation system, as an advanced minimally invasive medical device for tumors independently developed in China, adopts a combined mode of deep low-temperature cryotherapy and high-intensity heating to treat tumors. This system uses liquid nitrogen as the refrigerant, which is easy to obtain. The minimum freezing temperature can reach -196℃, and the single-needle ablation range is larger. Using anhydrous ethanol as the heat medium, the ablation needle can be heated to 80℃ after freezing, which can dissolve ice balls more quickly. At the same time, it can ablate the puncture needle tract, reduce bleeding, prevent tumor needle tract implantation and metastasis, and has higher safety.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Ipsilateral breast cancer recurrence
Time Frame: 3 years
From the surgery date to the ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence date
3 years
the rate of comlications
Time Frame: 3 months
The proportion of complications occurring during surgery and within 3 months after surgery
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
disease free survival
Time Frame: 3 years
The time from enrollment to the first occurrence of the following events defined as failure, including ipsilateral local recurrence, contralateral breast cancer, distant recurrence or death from any cause.
3 years
overall survival
Time Frame: 3 years
The time from enrollment to death caused by any reason.
3 years

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
exploratory research
Time Frame: 1 year
Correlation analysis between pathological reactions of tumor tissue after ablation, evaluation of blood immune function, postoperative imaging (MRI/ultrasound) features and recurrence risk, etc
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Peking University People's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

December 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 15, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 15, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 20, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 15, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PKUPHBC202509

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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