ABSTRACT
The application of low temperatures to select anatomical regions is of well-established clinical benefit when the process is appropriately controlled. Moderate cooling of a tissue followed by warming over short intervals (minutes) causes reversible effects on the cellular physiological processes, including perturbation of electrical events, while with deeper and extended cooling, ice formation occurs resulting in site-specific lethal consequences. The employment of low temperature for clinical and research use includes, but is not limited to, applications of thermal therapy: (1) hypothermic storage of cells, tissues, and organs; (2) cryotherapeutic treatment for the selective ablation of cells and tissues; and (3) cryoangiogenic-based tissue repair. Although these applications have certain distinctions, the underlying principles of cell and tissue responses to low temperature provide the foundation or linkage between each of the respective applications. Current expansion in the field of cryotherapy stems from the growing demand for multidisciplinary studies in which knowledge from one specialty area may be transformed to benefit other specialty areas.
