Bronchoscopy cryoprobes are used for
palliative treatment of endobronchial obstructions caused by
tumors and removal of
granulation tissue or
foreign bodies . Currently this
technology is also used for
diagnosis of diffuse
interstitial lung disease (ILD). The multidisciplinary team that establishes the clinical, radiological and histopathological correlation in ILD, decides about performing a surgical
lung biopsy when the characteristics of the interstitial
disease are not
similar to
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Although surgical
lung biopsy is the
gold standard for
diagnosis ,
treatment , and
prognosis , transbronchial cryo-
biopsy has a high diagnostic yield, low
morbidity and mortality rate, low rate of
complications and lower
cost . It is the diagnostic
method of choice in ILD when it is available. Technological improvements with greater
freezing power and
tensile strength of the cryo probes, allow their use in
cryotherapy and cryo-recanalization for occlusive
airway tumors .