Also called cryoablation and cryosurgical ablation, cryosurgery involves the surgical use of an extremely cold substance to freeze malignant tumor cells, thereby destroying them. The surgical technique has anti-cancer applications internally—argon gas or liquid nitrogen freezes a probe, which in turn can freeze the cells of a tumor without doing much damage to the surrounding tissue—and externally, for skin lesions and other tumors. Cryosurgery is a less expensive and less invasive alternative to traditional surgery, and its recovery times tend to be shorter as well.
What it's effective for and why
Cryosurgery has multiple applications in cancer treatment. According to the National Cancer Institute1, cryosurgery can be used for cancers of the prostate, liver, kidney, and breast, as well as various skin conditions (both precancerous growths and early-stage cancers). Cryosurgery has also shown efficacy against very specific cancers, including the childhood cancer retinoblastoma and the AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma.
Side effects: Overview
The techniques used in cryosurgery tend to cause less severe side effects than those experienced following either conventional surgery or other cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, it is not without its drawbacks: in skin cancer, cryosurgery can cause scarring of the skin and nerve damage; in liver cancer it can lead to bleeding and infections, and in prostate cancer, cryosurgery can cause rectal injuries and leave men impotent 1 2.
References
- National Cancer Therapy: Cryosurgery in Cancer Treatment
- American Cancer Society: Cryosurgery in prostate cancer
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