Cryopreservation
Cryopreservation: The process of cooling and storing cells, tissues, or organs at very low temperatures to maintain their viability. For example, the technology of cooling and storing cells at a temperature below the freezing point (‘196’ C) permits high rates of survivability of the cells upon thawing.
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- Cryoprobe
Cryoprobe: A surgical probe, a long slender pointed surgical instrument, used to apply extreme cold to tissues. From cryo- from the Greek kryos meaning cold + probe.
- Cryoprotectant
Cryoprotectant: A chemical component of a freezing solution used in cryopreservation to help protect what is being frozen from freeze damage. The chemical glycerol, for example, is commonly used as a cryoprotectant to protect frozen red blood cells.
- Cryostat
Cryostat: A chamber that can maintain very low temperatures. Medical laboratories use a cryostat to preserve frozen tissue samples while a microtome, an extremely sharp cutting instrument mounted inside cryostats, slices the tissue into pieces thin enough to be observed under a microscope. The sliced piece must be so thin as to look nearly transparent. […]
- Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery: Treatment performed with an instrument that freezes and destroys abnormal tissue.
- Cryotherapy
Literally, “cold therapy.” Cryotherapy, sometimes referred to as cryosurgery, is a procedure used to destroy tissue of both benign and malignant lesions by the freezing and re-thawing process. Liquid nitrogen is the most commonly used freezing source for cryotherapy. Examples of the uses of cryotherapy in medicine are the treatment (removal) of various types of […]