YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE (1981 FORWARD, NON-ROYALTY) FILE. ==CRYOTHERAPY AND SKIN== 2 AUTHOR Rodriguez-Bigas MA AUTHOR Klippenstein D AUTHOR Meropol NJ AUTHOR Weber TK AUTHOR Petrelli NJ TITLE A pilot study of cryochemotherapy for hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer. SOURCE Cryobiology; VOL 33, ISS 6, 1996, P600-6 ABSTRACT Cryosurgery of hepatic metastases from colorectal carcinoma is a form of local therapy for unresectable disease. After curative resection, failures occur in the liver, and at extrahepatic sites. This pilot study evaluated the toxicity and tolerance to cryotherapy and intraoperative chemotherapy for unresectable hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer. If after exploratory celiotomy for potential curative resection of hepatic metastases the patient was deemed unresectable because of location and/or number of lesions, cryosurgery and intraoperative chemotherapy with systemic 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m2 and leucovorin 500 mg/m2 was performed. Four patients were treated with cryochemotherapy. All patients developed toxicity. Two patients developed grade II leukopenia on Postoperative Days 2 and 12, and grades II and III diarrhea on Postoperative Days 5 and 7, respectively. Grade III hyperbilirubinemia and thrombocytopenia occurred in one patient on Postoperative Days 3 and 7. Acute respiratory distress syndrome, postoperative ileus, and grade II mucositis occurred in one patient each. All patients had delays and dose reductions on their subsequent chemotherapy treatments secondary to toxicity. Two patients had disease progression, one had stable disease. and one is "disease free." Combining the tumoricidal effects of chemotherapy and cryosurgery is in theory a good concept. However, the toxicity of 5-FU and leucovorin is enhanced by this approach. 7 AUTHOR Chilla R AUTHOR Evers K TITLE [Recurrent skin tumors following radiation injuries. Indication for cryotherapy] SOURCE Laryngol Rhinol Otol (Stuttg); VOL 61, ISS 11, 1982, P618-21 ABSTRACT Following skin damage resulting from radiotherapy, pancancerous conditions, carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas not rarely pose therapeutic problems. We encountered those problems severally after radiotherapy of the middle face, for instance for lupus vulgaris or basal cell carcinoma. Senile skin changed over the years by climatological influences may create similar problems. Disorders of blood supply and lack of "tissue material" as consequences of radiation-induced skin atrophy are the reasons for the failure of many attempts of plastic surgery aimed at tumor removal and defect repair. Besides that, the conditions for such operative procedures are progressively deteriorating with the number of tumor recurrences. In these instances cryotherapy offers an excellent therapeutic alternative by virtue of the favorable healing tendency of the cryonecrosis including the final, inconspicuous scar formation. 3 AUTHOR Tappero JW AUTHOR Berger TG AUTHOR Kaplan LD AUTHOR Volberding PA AUTHOR Kahn JO TITLE Cryotherapy for cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS): a phase II trial. SOURCE J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr; VOL 4, ISS 9, 1991, P839-46 ABSTRACT To assess the response and toxicity of liquid nitrogen cryotherapy for cutaneous lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) associated with AIDS, we evaluated 20 subjects with biopsy-proven KS in a phase II clinical trial. Subjects had two to four cutaneous KS indicator lesions treated with liquid nitrogen cyrotherapy. Treatment was repeated at 3 week intervals, allowing adequate healing time. On average, subjects received three treatments per lesion with a mean follow-up time of 11 weeks (range of 6-25 weeks). One treatment consisted of two freeze-thaw cycles, with thaw times ranging from 11 to 60 s per cycle. A complete response was observed in 80% of treated KS lesions and lasted a minimum of 6 weeks following the completion of therapy. Greater than 50% cosmetic improvement of KS was observed. Histopathology of treated lesions correlated poorly with cosmetic improvement. Response was not predicted by tolerance to zidovudine therapy, CD4+ cell count, presence of B symptoms, or previous chemotherapy. Subjects without prior history of opportunistic infection (OI) were more likely to have a better response than those with a prior history of OI. Subjects tolerated cryotherapy well. Blistering occurred frequently, but local pain was limited and relieved by acetaminophen. Secondary infection did not occur. Based on this study, we recommend cryotherapy to subjects with cutaneous KS lesions. Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy is easily applied as a primary therapy, and may also have a role in the treatment of cutaneous KS lesions that respond slowly or show incomplete cosmetic improvement with systemic therapies.