Abstract: Water-ice phase transitions and freeze-thaw damage in cold regions alter rock mass properties and bit-rock interactions, limiting the applicability of measurement while drilling (MWD) models calibrated under normal-temperature conditions. This study reviews freezing and freeze-thaw deterioration characteristics of rock masses in cold regions and field monitoring methods, summarizes advances in MWD equipment, mechanical property prediction, structure identification, and drillability assessment, and compares the assumptions, error sources, and applicability limits of these approaches in cold regions. The analysis indicates that the current frozen state and accumulated freeze-thaw damage should be characterized separately. Pore-ice cementation and fracture-ice support may modify parameter magnitudes and interface responses, whereas drilling-induced frictional heating and local melting introduce additional uncertainty in response interpretation. Conventional abrupt-change detection methods are suitable for macroscopic structural planes with sufficient mechanical contrast but cannot be assumed to resolve individual dispersed microcracks. Early freeze-thaw damage should therefore be assessed statistically at the scale affected by drilling. Mechanical parameters should be combined with vibration, acoustic, and temperature information while accounting for operating conditions and sensor thermal drift. Future research should develop physically constrained MWD interpretation methods with quantified uncertainty for cold-region rock masses by conducting controlled freeze-thaw drilling experiments, comparisons across drilling directions and boreholes, and independent field validation.