Cryosurgery is gaining more and more importance as a therapeutic modality within the field of head and neck surgery.
Cryosurgery was performed in two patients with hemangioma arising from the entrance of the esophagus.
Case 1: A 41-year-old woman was referred for the diagnosis of hemangioma in the entrance of the esophagus which had been present for approximately five years. The patient felt slight pain on deglutition and sometimes noticed hemoptysis. The lesion was treated with cryoapplication of -60°C on its surface through the direct laryngoscope under general anesthesia. Cryoapplications were repeated by overlapping frozen areas during treatment. The duration of the individual freezing cycles ranged from one and half to three minutes. Over a period of 3 weeks the patient received 2 cryosurgical treatments. Postoperative healing was uneventful. After 3 weeks following 2nd cryosurgery the lesion disappeared without leaving a remarkable scar. No recurrence was noted after one-year follow-up.
Case 2: A 54-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with a history of foreign body sensation in the throat. Endoscopic examination revealed a dark, blue swelling in the entrance of the esophagus, suggesting a hemangioma. The lesion was frozen in three applications of -60°C each time. The frozen region was overlapped to compass the entire tumor. After thawing the frozen areas began to swell. In 24 hours it was almost twice of its original size. Then the necrotic tissue was well demarcated from vital tissue and on the seventh postoperative day the brownish lump exfoliated and showed a persistent smaller tumor. Total regression of the hemangioma and overgrowth of normal mucosa followed with a satisfactory functional result. No further growth was observed after six-month follow-up.
The general treatment of the hemangioma in the larynx, hypopharynx and esophagus was briefly discussed.
