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I was looking at Canonbury.com today and noticed their advert for the CryoPen.

Does anyone have any experience of using this?

It looks like a good thing for freezing verrucae etc.

I found this website about it which is interesting too: http://www.kmed.co.uk/productdetail.asp?productid=KCG051

Any comments anyone?

Cheers,

Robin.

 

I'd be really interested to know how this works. Unfortunately the company website is as helpful as an umbrella in a hurricaine. The most important thing about cryonecrosis is the freezing velocity of the tissue when the probe is applied. Too slow and you get extracellular ice formation, which has the effect of insulating cells and preserving them rather than the desired opposite. That's why there's a whole lot of hopefuls lying in some underground vault somewhere in Nebraska having undergone a slow deep freeze in LN2 in the hope that when they wake up, George Bush Jnr III will have left planet earth in some sort of viable state for them to enjoy. I suppose the point of living and of being an optimist is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come. Personally I think their optimism is slightly misplaced; and think of their chilblains!

I did a lot of work in cryogenics in the early 1990's and every so often these wondrous new products appear, stay a while, the vanish into obscurity. As far as I'm concerned the only cryogen of choice is LN2 (or liquid O2 or helium if you really want to make an impact!). Nothing else comes close.

Mark Russell

 

Well I've bought one, so I'll let you know...

Cheers,

Robin.

 

So how was it? I've been using one for the last 4 months with mixed results including some success. I've been trying 2x15 seconds per VP to start with but, not wanting to sound like a sadist am a bit worried that it's not a severe enough freeze (the patients don't scream like they used to with LN :eek: ) Should i freeze for longer? What times do other people use?? I'm also concerned about the peripheral areas taking too much freeze, has anyone succeeded in concentrating the freeze for small vp's? (I tried masking the area with fleecy web but that made it worse, the VP got a better freeze but so did the entire area under the FW, pt's reaction much more customary!)

looking forward to enlightenment!
Neil

 

Hi!

I think the Cryopen is great!

I usually freeze 2x 30 seconds with most vp's. With small ones 2x 15 seconds.
With big ones, if the patient is not a sensitive soul I use 2x 30 seconds with the big nozzle.

With some persistent heel vp's i've used 2x30 seconds normal nozzle then 70% salicylic acid ointment straight after, and get the patient back after a week.

Overall I've had good results. However when you get monster vp's i.e. a 2p size it doesn't work...

Here's a tip: If you use the cyopen a lot you need to buy some spare 'o' rings and closing pastilles. It took me 3 gas cartriges to work out why the cryopen didn't work anymore...

As far as freezing goes I try to develop a nice ice ball on the vp and keep the probe moving round. However I have tried putting the nozzle really close but the patient's moan a bit...

Sometimes it can take 10 treatments or more on persistent vp's. However some are gone in 2 goes, very occasionally one treatment.

I use the cryopen on approx 4 patients a week. It is very popular.

Cheers,

Robin.

 

Thanks for the reply,

I'll try for a bit longer freeze then.

Which nozzle is the wider one? They are both so small it's hard to tell but I'm assuming the black one is the standard size.

I'm finding it pretty good all round. Certainly I've not had the terror in the eyes of patients that i grew accustomed to seeing when using the nitrous gun (large welding size tank on wheels and a foot long gun didn't put patients at ease especially.....)

Sometimes the filter clogs straight away and that canisters gas comes out more slowly, i just freeze for longer if it does that. I've been trying to hold the nozzle next to the skin by moving it in small circles, pushing the ice away, the thinking for that is the blurb about this says it's the pressure that pushes the cold into the skin that makes this method effective. That said the ice blobs are damn cold anyway, i soon learned not to use this with any bare arm showing! It does tend to spit about a bit.

What are "closing pastilles"?

Cheers
Neil

 

Cryopen Injury

I have recently purchased a Cryopen C and an injury has occured.

Firstly, the cartidges were only lasting about 10 seconds before running out, and I ended up using 3.

I told the patient to advise me when they started to feel pain. Unfortunately, they did not.

They returned after the weekend due to the amount of pain, and a result it appears as though the tissue surrounding the VP became saturated, burst and a blood blister 3cm by 3cm has been created. I suspected possible cellulits and refered him stratight to the GP for anti-biotics. GP does not suspect cellulitis, but has aired on the side of caution.

Reading other peoples experiences, some of them say that they do 2x30 secs. Mine didn't last that long and my patient developed this blister.

Firstly, is this normal? I very much doubt it

Secondly, I am currently offloading with 5mm SCF with aperture. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thirdly, how long do you think it will take to heal? This person is in their 60's, but they do not have diabetes or any arthritis.