Cryosurgery of bovine squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva

Abstract

Cryosurgery using double freeze-thaw cycles was used to treat 62 cattle with vulval carcinoma of various sizes. A cure rate of 88.7% was achieved. It was confirmed that the smaller the lesions the better the response and that, in larger lesions, failure occurred because of the difficulty in freezing the mass of neoplastic tissue rapidly to the lethal temperature of -25°C using the cryosurgical unit available. It is concluded that, if instituted early in the clinical course of the disease, cryotherapy of bovine vulval carcinoma is superior to surgical excision, but the cost of the equipment may be a limiting factor in its application in the field.