• HOW IT'S DONE
Cancers can be frozen or vaporized with lasers or high-energy radiowaves delivered by a probe through a tiny incision. In one technique, the probe opens like an umbrella inside the breast

• AVAILABILITY
Already used for liver tumors. Clinical trials for breast cancer are under way, but could take five years to complete

• HOW IT'S DONE
Tumors can be examined with a miniature fiber-optic camera that is inserted through the nipple and into a milk duct. Eventually surgeons may be able to treat tumors through the same tiny probe

• AVAILABILITY
The fiber-optic scope was okayed by the FDA last summer. Using it for treatment may be less than five years away

• HOW IT'S DONE
After a lumpectomy, a tiny radioactive bead is delivered directly into the tumor site through a small balloon-tipped catheter. Treatment takes a matter of days, not weeks

• AVAILABILITY
Clinical trials on 70 patients nationwide have been completed. The procedure is awaiting FDA approval

• HOW IT'S DONE
With microarrays, scientists can study patterns of gene activity using strands of cancer DNA and predict which tumors are likely to spread. The technique may someday be used to design customized treatments

• AVAILABILITY
Clinical trials for breast cancer are starting this year; treatment may be widely available within the decade

• HOW IT'S DONE
As scientists come to understand at the molecular level precisely how tumors form, they are designing a new generation of smart drugs that bind to specific receptors or block particular proteinss

• AVAILABILITY
Herceptin, the first of these smart drugs for breast cancer, is available for certain advanced cancers