1.The “argon helium knife” that can “freeze” cancer cells: Argon helium superconducting cryogenic cold to the surgical system is a minimally invasive ultra-low temperature freezing and ablation of tumors, commonly known as argon helium knife, both -150 degrees ultra-low temperature freezing, interventional thermotherapy, 200 degrees large temperature difference reversal and immune enhancement and other multiple performance. It is a minimally invasive ultra-low temperature tumor ablation medical device. The essence of its working principle is freezing and heating therapy for tumor treatment. The cold medium (argon) and hot medium (helium) are circulated at the tip of the knife to expand rapidly, which can freeze the lesion to -140℃ in 50 seconds, and then thaw and warm up to 45℃ quickly, causing the tumor cells to burst and die. When heated to a certain time and then frozen again, this cold-heat reversal therapy can completely destroy the tumor lesion tissue. This method can rapidly reduce the load of tumor, the tumor diameter of less than 4 cm can reduce the load of more than 95%, the diameter of more than 5 cm tumor can reduce the load of more than 80%, smaller tumor can achieve the effect of radical treatment, and prolong the survival of patients. Ar-He knife is most effective for malignant solid tumors, including: liver cancer, lung cancer, brain tumors, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, prostate cancer, kidney and adrenal tumors, abdominal and pelvic tumors, bone tissue tumors, soft tissue tumors, head and neck and skin tumors, metastatic gastrointestinal tumors, and other solid tumors. Ar-He knife cooling or heating is only limited to the cold tip of the knife, and the blade has good insulation, which will not cause damage to the normal tissues in the puncture path. At the same time, as the tumor cells burst and die, the tumor cell antigen enters the blood, which can also stimulate the body’s immune system to produce cellular immunity and humoral immune response, improving the body’s immunity, argon-helium targeted therapy technology in Europe and the United States and other countries is known as the green therapy for tumor treatment. 2.What tumors can be treated by Ar-He knife? Most of the treatment with Ar-He knife is based on local anesthesia, and the treatment is usually performed under the guidance of B-ultrasound, CT and MRI, and the whole process of puncture is monitored in real time. The procedure can be performed by percutaneous puncture, surgical puncture under direct vision, or lumpectomy. The argon knife is accurately punctured into the tumor under the guidance of CT or B-ultrasound positioning, and then the argon gas is first activated to produce a cooling effect that freezes the diseased tissue to minus 140°C-170°C within 15 seconds. After 15-20 minutes, the argon gas is turned off and the helium gas is activated to rapidly heat the lesion tissue in the ultra-low temperature state, which can make the temperature of the lesion tissue rise from -140℃ to -20℃-40℃ to perform rapid thermal therapy. After 3-5 minutes, the treatment is repeated once more. This kind of hot and cold reversal therapy is particularly thorough in destroying the lesioned tissues. The speed, time and temperature of cooling and heating, and the size and shape of the destroyed area can be monitored in real time by ultrasound or CT, and are precisely set and controlled by computer. The Ar-He knife is currently the only instrument that can perform minimally invasive percutaneous cold and heat therapy. The Ar-He knife is a minimally invasive treatment with less bleeding. 5 cm lesions are generally frozen 7 cm in diameter and can basically achieve the effect of surgical excision, but for larger and irregular lesions, the effect of “cold cutting” is not as complete as surgery. Therefore, if you can operate, you should do it. For those who do not have the conditions for surgery, Ar-He knife is unique. First of all, it is effective and no tumor dies wherever it is frozen. Secondly, it is a physical treatment without any side effects. In addition, it has a short treatment period, usually one treatment can be finished and the tumor can be discharged after 2-3 days of observation, so the non-therapeutic expenses are less. Cryosurgery system has a wide range of indications for tumor treatment, mainly applied to various solid tumors in the whole body. It includes liver cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, benign and malignant tumors of bone, adrenal cancer, meningioma, glioma, uterine fibroid, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, breast fibroid, and for cancer pain relief, etc. Currently, the most commonly used are liver cancer and lung cancer. The limitation of argon helium knife is that the argon helium surgery system is suitable for the treatment of solid tumors, but it cannot be used for the treatment of cavity tumors, such as esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, etc., because freezing can cause fistulae in the cavity. 3.Does argon helium knife “freeze” the healthy cells? (Ar-He knife side effects): Because the Ar-He knife cooling or heating is limited to the tip of the knife, the knife rod does not produce hot and cold damage to the tissue in the puncture path; moreover, the speed of cooling and heating, time and the size and shape of the ice ball can be precisely set and controlled by computer. Therefore, the damage to normal healthy tissue cells by the Ar-He knife treatment system is minimal, and it represents a trend of minimally invasive tumor treatment. At present, argon helium knife treatment is mainly applied to liver cancer and lung cancer, and its common complications: (1) In liver tumor treatment can cause rupture of liver envelope. Freezing close to the surface of the liver may cause bleeding, and it is best to use intraoperative direct vision freezing in order to stop bleeding. If percutaneous freezing is to be performed, it is best to pass the cold knife through a portion of normal liver tissue before entering the lesion. (2) Hysteresis bleeding, seen in 1% of patients. This complication may be due to thrombocytopenia in a subset of patients who freeze a large amount of liver tissue and should be given more attention in patient selection. (3) The patient’s clinical temperature is too low. This is a potential complication and can be controlled by using a device that circulates warm gas around the patient’s body for warming to reduce the problems associated with hypothermia. (4) Raw myoglobinuria occurs after cryopreservation. Among the complications caused by lung cancer cryosurgery, pneumothorax accounts for 10%, hemothorax accounts for 1%, and there are signs of pulmonary atelectasis, cytosolic effusion and small amount of hemoptysis, but most of these complications disappear after one week. 4.What are the special features of Ar-He knife compared with traditional cryopreservation methods? Traditional cryotherapy is mainly used for palliative treatment of middle and late stage tumors due to poor targeting and high local recurrence rate. The emergence of argon-helium ultra-cold knife minimally invasive targeted therapy system has changed the understanding of traditional cryo-tumor treatment methods. It has the advantages of simple operation, strong targeting, wide indications, timely monitoring of the target area during treatment, immediate evaluation after surgery, less damage to the patient, and exact ablation effect of tumor, etc. Most of the tumors between 2 and 10 cm can be treated at one time to achieve the purpose of local ablation, while tumors larger than 10 cm can be treated by surgery or combined with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine and immune gene therapy. It has improved the effect of comprehensive treatment of middle and late stage tumors and has been clinically confirmed. It is another new local treatment for tumor after radiofrequency, microwave, laser, ultrasound focused knife, gamma knife, X-knife.