[My experience with cryosurgery]

The author presents his experience with cryosurgery of varicose veins of the lower extremities. The technique consists in performing an Internal Saphenous crossectomy, followed with ascending cooling of the vein with a cryoprobe, which results in a step by step inflammatory reaction. The final result may be compared to the one obtained with crossectomy combined with sclerosis of the saphenous trunk from the ankle to the groin. The main drawback of this procedure is its high rate of early or rapid recurrences by lack of precision in the degree of cooling of the vein.