What to expect during cryotherapy
The cryotherapy procedure you have depends on the type and location of your cancer.
Some external cancers like small, superficial basal cell carcinomas and early, low-risk squamous cell cancers are treated with cryotherapy in your health care provider’s office. They may first inject a local anesthetic into your skin before applying liquid nitrogen to the cancerous area. This can be sprayed on or applied with a cotton swab. You may feel a brief sting or pressure. Depending on the lesion’s size, this may take only a few minutes.
For cancer inside the body (bone, breast, liver, lung, kidney, and prostate cancers), you’ll receive a local anesthetic to numb the area or general anesthesia to put you to sleep. Your surgeon will make a small incision in your skin. Using ultrasound, CT, or MRI technology, they’ll guide a thin, wand-like tool called a cryoprobe into the tumor or abnormal cells. A pressurized jet of freezing gas is then delivered through the cryoprobe tip directly into the tumor tissue to freeze it.
This process involves several short freezing and thawing cycles, each typically lasting 10 to 25 seconds. The entire process generally takes less than half an hour.
Once the procedure is complete, a small bandage is applied, and you can go home. The frozen tissue will gradually thaw, and the destroyed cancer cells will be absorbed by your body. This treatment typically results in no pain or scarring.