Temperature of the portio uteri in cryosurgical treatment

The cryosurgical treatment of various benign changes in the uterine cervix has gained wide acceptance [4, 8, 15, 16, 17, 29]. The application of cryosurgery has widened the range of gynaecologic therapeutic methods. As all new methods, it could not entirely fulfil all expectations. The results of initial attempts at curing cancer or various precancerous diseases of the cervix were not wholly satisfying and, according to our present knowledge, the application of cryosurgery in such cases is not advisable except under certain specific circumstances [2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 18, 24, 28, 33, 35]. The method promises excellent results in the treatment of chronic inflammation of the cervix resistant to conservative therapy, of condyloma acuminatum, ectopium, etc. [4, 8, 15, 17, 29, 30]. The present studies were undertaken in order to determine the relationship between the cooling velocity attained in cryosurgery and using Erbokryo-Amoils 40/a type device and nitric oxide. The extent of tissue destruction depends namely first of all on the velocity of cooling and then thawing. The thawing time is given as a function of the blood in the tissue. The cold temperature is not negligible causing tissue damage either.