Cryotherapy

Someone was just commenting about their cryotherapy problems today. They had a first time treatment and it came back so they had a second cryotherapy treatment and it came back again and they ended up stage four. The doctor kept promising that this would be the final solution And they wouldn’t need any more treatment. Didn’t work out that way.

The long-term results of cryotherapy are still unknown.

Radiation or surgery may give you a better chance of having Long-term remission, but you could have a successful cryotherapy session as well. If you have cryotherapy and it comes back again, that’s probably not the treatment you want a second time.

I couldn’t find the message from the person that originally talked about it today, but if I see it, I will Post their experience so you can see what somebody else had to say.

If you have a localized lesion without other nastier features like cribriform, IDC or a high Decipher score, focal therapies can be great.
TulsaPro and others along this line have been used successfully. They usually employ ultrasound (heat). I only know of 2 cryotherapy cases and both did not end well…
Phil

I did not do Cryo but I did do a focal therapy-Tulsa Pro for my 4+3 with cribriform. My doctor at Mayo Rochester uses cryo as a back up to Tulsa if he runs into any calcifications (they block ultrasound waves) during the Tulsa procedure. I have no evidence of cancer 18 months post treatment.

As you know, cryotherapy is focal therapy. Here’s an opinion by one well respected physician.

At the 11/1/2025 PCRI conference the following was said by Matthew R. Cooperberg, MD, MPH

What about focal therapy?
* The energy modality matters much less than the accuracy of the imaging - which is not there yet.
* Overall focal therapy is associated with minor side effects, but high rates of recurrence both in- and out-of-field.
* Focal therapy is not really a replacement for surgery or radiation; it is better considered an adjunct to active surveillance

A number of guys I know who had focal therapy (I don’t know which type), have had quick recurrence.
As it turns out, with focal therapy, in addition to the tissue being successfully treated/ablated, sufficient margin must also be treated to prevent local recurrence.
But, if the size of the tumor is underestimated, not enough margin is treated to control for recurrence.
On the other hand, treating a larger margin of a larger lesion, increases the odds of serious side-effects.
So, the margin needs to be large enough to hit possible cancer cells outside the target area, yet small enough not to adversely impact nearby tissues causing undesirable side-effects.

Thanks everyone for comments. I have to add that I have a 3+4=7 lesion. One spot. Another small spot of 3+3=6. Dr said not to treat the 3+3=6 spot just surveillance. This Dr has done over 200 cryotherapy treatments and is know for her expertise in Minnesota for cryotherapy. I did not have a decipher test. I am 75 years old.

With the comments I was hoping for more positive answers.

The Dr is very confident. But the radiologist was as well. Of course you wouldn’t want to pick a doctor that is not confident.

There just seems so much more that can wrong with radiation.

Any additional comments are much appreciated.