Cryosurgery: theory and application to head and neck neoplasia

While surgery and radiation therapy remain the time-tested modalities for the treatment of cancer in the head and neck, recent experimental and clinical experience has documented the effectiveness of cryosurgery as an adjunct in the treatment of selected neoplasms in individual patients. A review is provided of the theory of freezing as a method of cell destruction, and experimental and clinical experience illustrate the principles and application of cryosurgery to head and neck tumors.