October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we've learned about a procedure that's being used instead of traditional surgery if doctors find a lump.
It's called Cryoablation. It kills tumors by freezing them with extremely cold temperatures.
"It's not done in the operating room. There is no surgery involved. We just do it under ultrasound guidance - put a little freezing needle, we call it a cryoprobe, into the target tissue that we want to kill," says Dr. Heather Garrett, Associate Professor of Breast Radiology at Washington University and Director of Breast Imaging at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
She tells KMOX this can replace the need for surgery in select patients.
There's no incision and virtually no recovery time. Dr. Garrett says there's also very little, if any, change in appearance.
