Keywords

Introduction

Over the last 50 years, LN has become the most common refrigerant used in dermatologic cryotherapy and cryosurgery. Equipment has been designed for the efficient production, storage and delivery of LN to effectively treat skin lesions. To optimally perform cryosurgery it is essential to have a solid understanding of the materials (equipment) and methods (techniques) to be used.

What follows is a compilation, as complete as we could put together from literature, technical exhibits at dermatology and cryosurgery meetings, Internet vendors and searches, etc. Still, new products surprise us every time we think we included all the relevant products; others disappear from the market as quickly. Every attempt has been made not to favor or miss the products of any brand or distributor.

Equipment that utilizes gasses other than LN as refrigerants may be underrepresented in this review, but they are further discussed by the authors that use them in their corresponding chapters.