Office treatment by cryotherapy for severe posterior nasal epistaxis--update.

We have used cryotherapy as an office treatment for severe posterior nasal epistaxis for 15 years. In 1971 we reported a retrospective study on 42 consecutive patients with severe posterior nasal bleeding; 26 had cryotherapy and 16 had anterior and posterior nasal packing. Our data showed that cryotherapy controlled epistaxis with less morbidity. We have now used cryotherapy for posterior epistaxis in over 450 patients. In this presentation we review the history of cryotherapy, rationale for treatment with cryotherapy, experimental tissue changes in cryotherapy, and the method for freezing in cryotherapy. We then discuss 50 recent patients with severe posterior nasal bleeding whom we have treated with cryotherapy. We have found that cryotherapy is a successful way to manage patients with severe posterior nasal bleeding.