Are there advantages to using cryotherapy for prostate cancer?
There are few long-term studies on cryotherapy and prostate cancer. Some experts believe, though, that cryotherapy offers several advantages over surgery and radiation. Those advantages may be particularly noticeable in early stage prostate cancer. For instance, cryotherapy is a noninvasive procedure. It can be done using an epidural or spinal instead of a general anesthesia. This may benefit older men with prostate cancer. It can also benefit men who have other conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, or lung disease. Other advantages with cryotherapy include: • less blood loss • shorter hospital stay (usually one or two nights) • shorter recovery period • much less swelling and pain than with standard surgery for prostate cancer If needed, cryotherapy can be followed with other conventional therapies such as radiation therapy or surgery. One recent study followed men with prostate cancer for a period of 10 years. In that study, researchers concluded that cryotherapy might be as ef
