Friday, May 30, 2008
Cryosurgery - A hope for cancer patient
For cancers that could not be cut out, doctors have another option: freezing cancer cells to death.
Cryosurgery - destroying cells by freezing
“Cryosurgery has a long history and has been used to treat diseases such as warts,” said Dr Niu Lizhi who has vast experience in cryosurgery.
Cryosurgery, otherwise called cryoablation or cryotherapy, is the destruction of tissues – generally, tumour tissues – using very low temperatures (-1960C to -1870C) produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas respectively.
“This destruction is in situ. That means you don’t remove the tissue that you freeze, and the tissues will be reabsorbed by the body when destruction happens,” said Dr Franco Lugnani, president of the International Society of Cryosurgery (ISC).
In 1974, the International Society of Cryosurgery was founded as many doctors (in urology, dermatology, hepatology and gynaecology) used liquid nitrogen to destroy tissues, he added.
“Of course, in those days, you could apply liquid nitrogen somewhere but it was very difficult to control how the liquid nitrogen, at freezing temperatures, is delivered. And we do not have imaging modalities – we just have our eyes and our fingers,” Dr Lugnani said. Approaching the 90s, the advent of new imaging modalities like the ultrasound and CT scan had revived interest in cryosurgery.
“Eventually, we are able to control what we were delivering inside the body,” Dr Lugnani explained.
Cryosurgery can be used in two different aspects, he said. It can be used when conventional treatment modalities – surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy – has failed, especially in cancers of the lung, pancreas, uterus and breast.
There are also situations where cryosurgery can be used as first line treatment, for instance in kidney, prostate, some liver and some lung cancers, Dr Lugnani said.
Read more
Cryosurgery - destroying cells by freezing
“Cryosurgery has a long history and has been used to treat diseases such as warts,” said Dr Niu Lizhi who has vast experience in cryosurgery.
Cryosurgery, otherwise called cryoablation or cryotherapy, is the destruction of tissues – generally, tumour tissues – using very low temperatures (-1960C to -1870C) produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas respectively.
“This destruction is in situ. That means you don’t remove the tissue that you freeze, and the tissues will be reabsorbed by the body when destruction happens,” said Dr Franco Lugnani, president of the International Society of Cryosurgery (ISC).
In 1974, the International Society of Cryosurgery was founded as many doctors (in urology, dermatology, hepatology and gynaecology) used liquid nitrogen to destroy tissues, he added.
“Of course, in those days, you could apply liquid nitrogen somewhere but it was very difficult to control how the liquid nitrogen, at freezing temperatures, is delivered. And we do not have imaging modalities – we just have our eyes and our fingers,” Dr Lugnani said. Approaching the 90s, the advent of new imaging modalities like the ultrasound and CT scan had revived interest in cryosurgery.
“Eventually, we are able to control what we were delivering inside the body,” Dr Lugnani explained.
Cryosurgery can be used in two different aspects, he said. It can be used when conventional treatment modalities – surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy – has failed, especially in cancers of the lung, pancreas, uterus and breast.
There are also situations where cryosurgery can be used as first line treatment, for instance in kidney, prostate, some liver and some lung cancers, Dr Lugnani said.
Read more
Labels: cancer
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