Hamilton Medical Center Offers Cryosurgery
3/22/2005

Contact: Keith Jennings
Phone: 706-272-6118

Dalton, GA - A new treatment option is available at Hamilton Medical Center for patients diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Cryosurgery is a minimally invasive alternative to surgery and radiation therapy.

Cryosurgery utilizes slender probes filled with liquid nitrogen or argon gas into a hollow intstrument called a cryoprobe. These probes deliver a lethal freeze to destroy the tumor and surrounding tissue.

“Freezing kills cancer cells on contact no matter how aggressive they are,” reported Dr. Charles Idom, Urologist. “The procedure is done under general anesthesia and guided by ultrasound images.”

Cryosurgery can be used to treat men who have early-stage prostate cancer that is confined to the prostate gland. Because it is effective only in small areas, cryosurgery is not used to treat prostate cancer that has spread outside the gland, or to distant parts of the body.

Some advantages of cryosurgery are that the procedure can be repeated, and it can be used to treat men who cannot have surgery or radiation therapy because of their age or other medical problems. It is also, the only Medicare approved treatment if prostate-confined cancer recurs after radiation therapy (external beam or brachytherapy).

Among the advanced treatment options performed by HMC’s medical staff are radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy, external-beam radiation, and the latest salvage therapies like cryosurgery.

In many cases, side effects such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction are less severe with cryosurgery than other treatment options for prostate cancer. Also, because the procedure is minimally invasive, complications such as blood loss and risk of infection decrease dramatically.

“Patients often experience fewer side effects with cryosurgery and most are back to work within one week,” stated Dr. Idom. “The technology is extremely safe and effective with prostate cancer, as well as kidney and liver tumors.”

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