Is there a role for VAE in the treatment of breast cancer in patients unfit for surgery?

Introduction: Vacuum assisted excision (VAE) is used routinely to excise selected benign and indeterminate lesions. It is well tolerated and performed under local anaesthetic. Some have extended use of VAE to excise cancers in patients unfit for surgery. This is a retrospective review of our unit's practice in performing VAE on this cohort, unsuitable for surgery due to significant comorbidity/frailty.