For men with localized prostate cancer, a new approach that may be safe and effective is cyrosurgery -- killing cancer cells by temporarily taking tissues down to freezing temperatures.

Using ultrasound imaging, doctors place needles in preselected locations in the prostate gland, and then insert thin metal cyro probes through the skin of the perineum into the prostate.

Liquified gas in the cryo probes then forms an ice ball that freezes the prostate cancer cells; as the cells thaw, they rupture. During cryosurgery, a warming catheter inserted through the penis protects the urethra, and incontinence is seldom a problem.

The procedure takes place under anesthesia and generally involves a one or two day stay in the hospital.

While not much data is available on long-term outcomes for men who choose cyrosurgery, several recent studies have suggested that results are about the same as for men who choose radiation or surgery.

Cyrosurgery may also have fewer long-term side effects than some other treatments, with relatively few men in one study reporting significant incontinence six months after treatment and researchers reporting that sexual function returned within three years in about half of the patients in another study.

And unlike radiation treatments, men can be given repeated cryosurgery treatments if prostate cancer recurs.