Cryosurgery or Cryobiopsy
What is Cryosurgery/Cryobiopsy?
Cryosurgery is an advanced interventional pulmonology procedure that uses the cryoprobe. The cryoprobe is an advanced instrument that can freeze the target tissue to a very low temperature. This frozen tissue can then be sampled or removed easily. Cryobiopsy is very useful for sampling lung tissue (biopsy) or complete removal of tumour mass obstructing the airway. It is a minimally invasive technique and helps in obtaining bigger samples thus giving higher accuracy and avoiding repeat procedures.
How is it performed?
In cryobiopsy, a probe is deployed through the bronchoscope and placed near the target tissue. The probe is cooled for a few seconds, freezing and causing the lung tissue around it to stick to the probe. The scope and probe are removed, and bleeding is controlled using a balloon occlusion catheter. Navigation to the target tissue is assisted by Fluoroscopy or Radial-EBUS. The procedure is mostly performed under general anaesthesia and the patient can go home the same day or the next morning after overnight observation.
What are the advantages of Cryosurgery/Cryobiopsy?
Cryobiopsy has been proven to be a useful tool for the diagnosis of lung cancer and interstitial lung diseases. Unlike traditional biopsy which involves samples less than 2mm, a cryoprobe can obtain lung tissue more than 1cm and in its intact form without any crushed artefacts. Also, it has less risk involved when compared to Surgical Lung Biopsy (SLB). With Radial-EBUS and Fluroscopy, it has a comparable yield to CT-guided trans-thoracic biopsy without the risk of pneumothorax. When in expert hands, cryobiopsy has no or minimal complications.
Cryobiopsy work by Dr Sameer Arbat –
Dr Sameer Arbat has performed more than 250+ lung cryosurgery procedures. Cryobiopsy tool was used for Lung Biopsy in cases of Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Diseases(DPLD) or ILD, Peripheral Lung Nodules, for Biopsy and Debulking in Endobronchial Airway Tumors as well as Thoracoscopic Pleural Cryobiopsies.
Dr Sameer Arbat was Awarded the Indian Chest Society Travel Grant for presenting his work on Cryobiopsy at the European Respiratory Society ERS Congress 2018 held in Paris, France. He is the youngest International Teaching Faculty at WABIP Program and has had students from India, Sri Lanka, Mexico train under him.
As a teacher, Dr Sameer’s area of expertise is Cryosurgery in which he has excelled in developing newer techniques.
Dr Sameer is credited for being one of the first doctors in the world to develop and master the novel techniques of Radial-EBUS + Cryobiopsy and CP-EBUS + Trans Bronchial Lymph Node Cryobiopsy. Dr Sameer Arbat has performed more than 1000 Interventional Pulmonology procedures in the past 5 years including thoracoscopies, cryobiopsy and EBUS.
