Cryotherapy is the use of cold to treat medical conditions. A form of this treatment known as cryosurgery increasingly is being used to treat various forms of cancer. In this treatment, extremely cold liquid nitrogen (or argon gas) is applied to the tumor to destroy the abnormal tissue.

In the past, cryosurgery has been used for treatment of precancerous skin lesions, moles and skin cancers. With advanced technology, this freezing technique has expanded to be effective treatment of cervical, prostate and liver cancer. Currently research is being conducted to determine its effectiveness in treating other cancers, including breast, lung and brain cancers.

Cryotherapy has several advantages over other forms of cancer treatment. These include limited destruction of healthy tissues and flexibility to repeat the procedure if necessary. However, the long-term effectiveness of cryotherapy remains largely unknown. As a result, many physicians consider it to be an experimental treatment for certain cancers.