Abstract: A cryosurgical instrument incorporates a heat transfer zone, which abuts against the portion of the cryosurgical instrument near the input refrigerant entrance, and which receives pure input refrigerant at the coldest temperature for quickly and effectively cooling this portion of the cryosurgical instrument. The cryosurgical instrument includes a shaft portion and a handle portion. The shaft portion includes an outer jacket tube having both an open and closed end. The closed end surrounds the freezing zone for freezing live tissue. A middle tube is disposed within the outer jacket tube. An inner tube is disposed within the middle tube. The inner tube is adapted for routing input cryogenic refrigerant therethrough to the freezing zone. The channel between the inner tube and middle tube forms a cryogenic refrigerant exhaust path for exhausting cryogenic refrigerant from the freezing zone.