Users of Cryosurgery Convene in France

The first annual meeting of users of a cryosurgery system called Cryohit was held in Villejuif, France at the Hospital Paul Brousse. More than 20 doctors from around the world attended the meeting, hosted by Henri Bismuth and Rene Adam, professors of digestive surgery at the hospital.

The attendees exchanged ideas, experiences, and information about the use of cryotherapy with interventional radiology applications and open surgical techniques. Abstracts were presented by CryoHit users on such cryotherapy treatment for liver, kidney, and breast tumors, uterine fibroids, and magnetic resonance (MR) thermal mapping during cryosurgery. Using CryoHit, a doctor directs the thin cryoneedles to a tumor site under MR guidance and monitors the freezing of diseased tissue in real-time. The cryoneedles produce extreme subzero temperatures that thoroughly ablate the tumor while avoiding damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

Prof. Adam reported that the hospital had treated 63 liver cancer patients either exclusively with cryotherapy or combined with hepatic surgical resection. "We have achieved very promising results using the CryoHit system, reflected in lower morbidity and higher curative rates,” said Prof. Adam.

Dr. Stuart G. Silverman, associate professor, Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA) noted that by using MRI guidance with CryoHit, his team had achieved high resolution imaging that clearly delineated the iceball from the tumor. "This enables the physician to perform minimally invasive accurate procedures with superior real-time imaging,” he said.

CryoHit is the product of Galil Medical (Yokneam, Israel). The company notes it is the only cryotherapy system for the interventional MRI environment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).



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