What is the principle of Ar-He knife for tumor treatment?

Argon-Helium targeted tumor treatment technology is a minimally invasive tumor treatment system (referred to as Argon-Helium knife) approved by FDA in 1998 and CE certified by EU, which represents the development level of science and technology in the 21st century. It adopts a number of electronic computer and aerospace technologies such as argon cooling, helium heating, biological sensing, timely monitoring and minimally invasive, etc. It is the latest international cryogenic targeted local ablation treatment technology for tumors; it can Under the guidance of X-ray, B-ultrasound, CT or lumpectomy, the Ar-He knife can be directly penetrated into the cancerous tumor tissues, freezing the cancerous tumor cells to -140-160℃ within 60 seconds and freezing the cancerous tumor tissues into ice balls within a few minutes, causing the tumor cells to rupture and necrosis; the helium gas rapidly causes heat, accelerating the degeneration and necrosis of the cancerous tissues; the reversal of the cold and heat cycle makes the destruction of the cancerous tissues especially complete. The speed, time and temperature of argon cooling and helium heating in the treatment area as well as the size of the ice ball are fully controllable in order to achieve conformal treatment. (1) Cryogenic freezing causes the tumor cell temperature to drop rapidly to below -100 ℃, and ice crystals are formed rapidly inside and outside the tumor cells, followed by cell membrane rupture and rehydration during the thawing period, resulting in cell death; (2) The temperature of the area slightly farther away from the cryogenic freezing decreases more slowly, and ice crystals will be formed in the micro-vein and micro-artery, and the solution will be removed from the formed ice crystals. The solution will be removed from within the formed ice crystals, making the intercellular fluid tension too strong. The unfrozen tumor cells are depleted to balance the resulting gradient of compounds, causing the expansion of blood vessels and leading to the rupture of microvessels during the thawing period and cell death caused by hypoxia; (3) the causes of cell death of tumor cells caused by ultra-low temperature freezing are: formation of ice crystals inside and outside the cells, rupture of cell dehydration and destruction of microvessels. (2) Histopathological changes of tumor treated by ultra-low temperature cryoablation (1) After ultra-low temperature cryoablation, the tumor tissue is irreversibly congested, edematous, hemorrhagic, degenerative and coagulative necrosis; (2) The tumor cells in the frozen area have blurred borders, lost cell structure, ruptured nuclei, broken cell junctions, changed cell membrane bilayer structure and ruptured cell membrane of some cells by electron microscopy; (3) After cryotherapy (3) After cryotherapy, the tumor necrotic area is surrounded by the damaged area, and under light microscopy, cell swelling, increased translucency, vacuole-like degeneration, rounding and wrinkling, widening of cell gap and perivascular gap, focal hemorrhage and liquefaction of some areas can be seen. 3, the immune enhancement effect of ultra-low temperature cryotherapy tumor clinical data prove that ultra-low temperature therapy can not only effectively destroy cancer cells, but also improve the anti-tumor immunity: (1) regulate the human anti-cancer cell immune immune response: ultra-low temperature cryotherapy can make T lymphocytes value-added, significantly activate the function of T lymphocytes. (2) Regulate the secretion of cytokines and antibodies: Ultra-low-temperature freezing destroys cells, causing cell membrane rupture and exposing tumor antigens, causing anti-tumor antibodies to rise. (3) Regulation of tumor antigen to reverse tumor immune evasion: Freezing causes tumor cell rupture and cell membrane lysis, which leads to tumor antigen release. The necrosis of tumor cells makes the normal secretion of tumor antigens stop and the immunosuppressive state of tumor is lifted. The serum tumor antigen level decreases significantly 1-2 weeks after receiving cryotherapy, which can be used to evaluate the recovery of immune function of patients.