Really, there is a similar, current reality of cryotherapy (ultra-low temperature cryoablation, cold ablation).
The history of cryotherapy can be traced back to 3,500 years ago, when scholars applied freezing methods to treat skin diseases. However, the establishment of modern cryomedicine is a matter of recent years. Thus, ultra-low temperature cryoablation is both an old and young medical technology.
In the late 19th century, several important discoveries in the field of cryogenics, including systems for adiabatic expansion of pure oxygen, air, and nitrogen liquefaction, vacuum flasks capable of storing and handling liquefied gases, and the application of the Joule-Thomson effect to produce a continuous stream of liquefied gases, contributed to the development of cryotherapy.
The liquefaction of hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen was successful in the early 1940s, and liquid nitrogen was first used in the clinic in 1950, when it was applied directly to lesions for the treatment of a variety of skin diseases.
In the 1960s, cryogenic instruments and equipment were improved and developed. A cryotherapy probe was successfully prepared, which can be used for controlled freezing of deep tissues in the body, and has been applied to treat a variety of diseases, including anorectal diseases, uterine disorders, neurological disorders, prostate disorders, bone and joint disorders, and skin diseases.
In the 1990s, with the development of imaging technology and new freezing equipment, modern cryotherapy was gradually established. Liquid nitrogen freezing system and argon helium freezing system represent two important development stages of cryotherapy. The application of argon-helium cryotherapy system has raised the minimally invasive treatment of anorectal diseases and rectal tumors to a new level.
At present, cryotherapy has been widely applied to anorectal diseases, cervical erosion, and rectal tumors, and can be performed during surgery, endoscopically, or by percutaneous route. Cryotherapy has been extended from former anorectal diseases, cervical erosion and rectal tumors to prostate cancer, benign and malignant tumors of liver, lung, kidney, breast, uterus, ovary, bone, skin and various soft tissues.
Over the past 100 years, cryotherapy has gone through several ups and downs, but the establishment of modern cryotherapeutics and the real application and promotion of cryo in the clinic is a matter of the last few years. With the development of cryophysics, engineering, cryophysiology and pathology, cryotherapy has now become an important means of treating anal and intestinal diseases and rectal tumors, and in today's world of gradual minimally invasive surgical treatments, cryotherapy shows unlimited promise.