[Cryoapplication in the field of ORL (author's transl)].

After drawing attention to the literature concerning the use of cryotherapy in the field of ORL, the results of this therapy based on 40 cases, involving a total of 73 applications, are set out. Of mucous membrane affections otherwise resistant to therapy and inclined to recidivation, it was possible to cure two thirds of the cases and achieved an improvement in five further cases, giving altogether more than three quarters of the cases showing favourable results. An appliance was used which achieved a temperature of -40 degrees C at the tip of the probe, using the Joule-Thomson principle with expansion of nitrous oxide. This temperature is sufficiently low to effect surface changes, but is not so low as to cause destruction of larger amounts of tissue. Cryotherapy should occupy a permanent place in medical practice.