Cryosurgery for oral cancer--a six-year retrospective study.

In a review of 50 patients with oral cancer treated by cryosurgery, local control of the tumor for more than two years was achieved in 90%. In only 4 of 25 instances where the tumor had superficially invaded bone, or was adjacent to it, was resection necessary. Cryosurgery was effective in controlling benign and premalignant lesions also. The treatment is often palliative and sometimes curative when patients refuse other recommended care.