In the past ten years, flexible and formable cryoprobes have been developed for the treatment of various internal benign or malignant lesions. The flexible probes are fitted to adapt the operative channel of currently available fiberscopes. The formable probes allow an easier location of the probe tip on distant targets.
Their main features are:
An outer diameter from 2 to 3 millimeters and I to 2 meter lengths with a catheter flexibility allowing to steer the fiberscope with low torque.
Cryotips able to absorb few watts at a temperature under -60°C when working in living tissue.
The impedancemetric monitoring of the cryoprobe and the cryolesion.
These probes have been used in vascular surgery, pulmonology, urology, and gastroenterology.
On small lesions, the results are good. On larger ones, there is a need for more powerful cryoprobes or the definition of combined local techniques to reduce bulky lesions, potentiate the destructive effect, and shorten the operative time.