The influence of cryosurgery and electrocoagulation upon metastatic spread

An experiment was performed to investigate the hypothesis that cryosurgery or electrocoagulation of a tumor can have an inhibitory effect upon the metastatic process. Prior investigation had shown that both electrocoagulation and cryosurgery were as effective in causing a local cure of tumor as local excision. An intravenous injection of tumor cells was given a week after local treatment of 10-day-old subcutaneous tumors had been administered, and 2 weeks later the number of lung metastases was counted. No extra beneficial effect of cryosurgery or electrocoagulation upon the metastatic process could be demonstrated, neither with the antigenic tumor system used nor with two nonantigenic systems.