Cryotherapy Treatment (Ablation) for Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer - Cryotherapy Treatment (Ablation) for Prostate Cancer

Return to Urologic Cancers

Download Flash Player to view Perinatal animations.

About Cryotherapy Treatment (Ablation) for Prostate Cancer

Cryotherapy treatment, a technique that uses super low temperatures to kill prostate cancer cells, is one of several minimally invasive approaches to prostate cancer offered at Columbia University Department of Urology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Division surgeon Dr. Aaron Katz is one of the foremost practitioners of cryosurgery treatment. He has been treating prostate cancers with cryotherapy since the early 1990s and has performed more than 700 cryosurgical procedures.

During cryotherapy treatment surgeons insert several needles into the prostate to freeze and destroy the prostate cancer cells. Argon and helium gas circulate through the needles, lowering the temperature to -40°C for several minutes. Surgeons can control the extent of freezing and evaluate the prostate and needle placement with ultrasound imaging during the procedure.

Compared with open surgical procedures such as radical prostatectomy, cryotherapy is less invasive and causes fewer side effects. Cryotherapy is usually an outpatient procedure, so patients go home the day of treatment. Recovery following cryotherapy treatment is rapid. Cryotherapy entails a lower risk of side effects such as incontinence. And for some men cryotherapy results in minimal damage to the nerves involved in sexual function.

Eligibility for Cryotherapy Treatment (Ablation) for Prostate Cancer

Columbia Urology offers this form of minimally invasive treatment to men with localized, aggressive prostate cancer and as a focal treatment (a treatment that targets just the tumor and margin of normal tissue) to patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Doctors at Columbia Urology use cryotherapy to treat aggressive prostate cancers (PSA above 10 and a Gleason's score of 7 and above) that have recurred following radiation or that are not curable by radical surgery or radiation.

We also offer cryotherapy treatment as a focal therapy for patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Focal cryotherapy appears to be well suited for patients with early-stage prostate cancer who have a minimal amount of prostate cancer in one area of the gland. Columbia Urology doctors are investigating the effectiveness of a combination of hormonal therapy and cryotherapy treatment to improve the results of cryotherapy for prostate cancer.