Archives

Introduction: The fear of the knife and needle by the patients made doctors look for new ways to treat lesions that would generally require excision. Cryosurgery is a method of lesion destruction by rapid freezing.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of open system of cryosurgery using liquid nitrogen and dipsticks in the management of benign and certain malignant oral lesions and to study post-operative morbidity, if any.
Materials and Method: Twenty five patients of both sexes, ages between 8-70 years with clinically diagnosed benign and certain malignant oral lesions were included in the study. A cotton swab dipped in liquid nitrogen was applied with pressure on the lesion for 30 to 45 seconds. This was followed by a period of thawing which was double the freezing time. The freeze-thaw cycle was repeated twice. Secondary treatment was performed after two weeks in any residual lesion.

Result: Out of 25 patients, 24 were treated successfully with one or two applications without any complications. One patient dropped out of the study as he was cancerophobic and wanted the lesion excised at the earliest. Amongst the lesions, mucocoeles were the easiest to treat whereas verrucous carcinoma was the most resilient.

Conclusion: Cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen using dipsticks gives satisfactory results with no intra or post operative bleeding, no surgical defects, minimal or no scarring, and no infection following treatment.

Cryotherapy; liquid nitrogen; dipstick.