{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T13:18:38Z","timestamp":1787663918931,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["20K08938, 23K08035"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20K08938, 23K08035"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive local treatment option for selected patients with early breast cancer, with potential advantages in cosmetic preservation and reduced physical burden. Breast RFA nevertheless requires organ-specific adaptation because abundant adipose tissue, superficial tumor location, and proximity to the skin and chest wall influence electrical impedance, heat conduction, ablation geometry, and safety. A meta-analysis of 17 studies involving 399 patients and 401 lesions smaller than 2 cm reported 99% technical success, 96% complete ablation, a mean ablation time of 15.8 minutes, and a pooled complication rate of 2%; however, most studies were small, and 65.7% of patients underwent post-ablation surgical excision. More recently, the multicenter, single-arm phase 3 RAFAELO study treated 370 patients with Tis\u2013T1 tumors measuring 1.5 cm or less and reported 98.6% 5-year ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence-free survival among 353 patients completing follow-up, with two ipsilateral recurrences. These results are encouraging but remain conditioned by strict selection, mandatory radiotherapy, protocolized surveillance, and the absence of a concurrent randomized surgical control. This review therefore frames breast RFA as a system-based local therapy rather than an isolated technical maneuver. It details causes and recognizable patterns of insufficient ablation, proposes a minimum framework for reproducible technical and reporting standardization, summarizes quantitative efficacy and safety outcomes, and emphasizes post-ablation imaging, biopsy when indicated, and predefined rescue strategies. Breast RFA should not be regarded as a universal replacement for breast-conserving surgery; its safe use requires multidisciplinary selection, reproducible image-guided execution, objective procedural documentation, structured surveillance, and prospective comparative validation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1893430","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T12:21:55Z","timestamp":1787660515000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Radiofrequency ablation for early breast cancer: from local technique to system-based surgical therapy"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Shinichiro","family":"Kashiwagi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine","place":["Osaka, 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