Surgery

Cryocautery

Cryocautery, about 1930

Cryotherapy and cooling agents were already known in antiquity, cold blockage was probably first used by Larrey for amputations in 1812. However, cryosurgery as it is today begins with Sir James Arnott, who arrived in the mid-19th century with an ice-salt mixture Temperatures below -20 ° C and necrosis in tumors were further progressed, as liquefaction and separation of gases using the Linde process on an industrial scale was successful, and Dewar and Weinhold developed suitable insulated vessels White used the application of liquid air as a spray and with cotton wool, and 1910 gold liquid oxygen, both of which were used despite warnings of the risk of explosion until the 1930s. "(M. Hundeiker, History and Future of Cryosurgery in Dermatology, in: Akt. Dermatol 2009; 35 (7): 279-282).

The doctor filled the cold-insulated handle with ice snow, chose a probe adapted to the lesion to be treated, adjusted the pressure with which he wanted to force the probe onto the lesion, and informed himself in the literature about the adequate duration of treatment - and warned the patient about the procedure expected slight pain.

The cautery was available in different packs: with 2, 5, 8 or 10 hollow probes, always together with an adapter with which the handle could be refilled from an original ice bomb supplied by Drapier. In addition to 10 skin probes, a clinic pack contained 3 gynecological probes according to Bizard and Rabut, with which uterine skin and cervical inflammation could be treated.

We present an icing device according to Léon LORTAT-JACOB (1873-1931) from the possession of the physician Paul HETTO (1895-1979) established in Diekirch.