Women could be saved by mastectomy through a new treatment against breast cancer. A group of researchers at the Oklahoma University Cancer Institute has developed a new treatment that uses microwaves to “cook” the tumor,

Study also showed that the new treatment is very effective especially when given with chemotherapy. American experts are convinced that the microwave heat therapy, is able to reduce up to 90 percent the probability that a woman needs a mastectomy ..

The heating of the tumor up to 50 degrees Celsius does not destroy only cancer cells, but also seems to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. The study also showed that women with tumors of large size – greater than 5 centimeters in diameter – can avoid the surgical removal of the breast. Combining the two treatments, the risk of the entire removal of the mammary gland was reduced by 88 percent.

It means that surgeons can make even a lumpectomia, a procedure that removes only the tumor, rather than the entire breast. The effectiveness of the ‘microwave thermotherapy’ is due to the fact that tumors have a high water content, making them perfect for “boiling” at high temperatures up to self-destruct.

But the problem has always been to prevent them from being burned even the surrounding healthy tissues. One solution is to use a focused microwave therapy, where the heat is focused on one point. The researchers, however, stated: “We need more studies to know the usefulness’ of this treatment.”