Biophysical and engineering aspects of cryosurgery

A review is presented. Investigations of the techniques and biological results of cryosurgery have considerably advanced the author's understanding of the freezing process in tissues and have enabled cryosurgery to become a powerful and respected tool in the service of medicine. However, if cryosurgery is to become a precise and controllable form of therapy, the design of cryoprobes and the freezing regimes used need to be directed towards providing the necessary thermal environment for maximum cell death, rather than simply providing a cold tip.