Cryotherapy also known as cryosurgery or cryoablation, involves treating prostate cancer by using very cold temperatures to freeze and eliminate cancer cells/tissues in the prostrate.
Owing to its minimally invasive nature, cryosurgery for prostate cancer is at times used as an alternative treatment to prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate gland)
Long-term research on cryotherapy for prostate cancer are few, but experts believe that it offers numerous advantages noticeable in early stage cancer, in older men suffering from prostate cancer and men with other medical conditions like diabetes, lung problems or heart disease.
Usually cryotherapy surgery is recommended for men with prostate cancer in early stages, but it may also be a recommended option for men whose cancer has relapsed after other treatments.
If required, conventional remedies like surgery or radiation therapy may be administered after cryotherapy. Other advantages include:
Though cryotherapy in its initial stages was associated with relatively high levels of long-term side effects as compared to other treatments for prostate cancer, today technological advances have reduced these side effects.
However, many men still experience long-term sexual dysfunction. Also, though rare, cryotherapy may cause considerable damage to the organs close to the prostate gland, example, bladder or rectum. Rarely, serious infection may be caused due to injury and/or obstruction of the urethra.
Common side effects of prostate cancer cryotherapy may include:
Cryotherapy is far less expensive than a radical prostatectomy procedure. It is covered by some VA hospitals and insurance plans making it an affordable and viable option.
It may be covered by Medicare only under certain conditions. Medicare may not cover cryotherapy if it was administered as a salvage therapy after other primary treatments failed. It may however be covered as a salvage therapy (under certain conditions) after a trial radiation therapy failed.
AMA (American Medical Association) also has published an approved CPT code for cryotherapy for prostate cancer.
CPT code 55873 (Cryosurgical ablation of the prostate) includes ultrasonic guidance for interstitial cryosurgical probe placement.
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