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Hyperthermia Health Article

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Definition

Hyperthermia is the use of therapeutic heat to treat various cancers on and inside the body.

Purpose

The purpose of hyperthermia is to shrink and hopefully destroy cancer without harming noncancerous cells. It can be used to treat cancer in many areas of the body, including the brain, thyroid, lung, breast, and prostate. It is thought that high temperatures, up to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, can help shrink cancerous tumors. Hyperthermia is starting to be more widely used because it does not have side effects like other forms of cancer treatment such as radiation or chemotherapy. In some instances, hyperthermia is used at the same time with other forms of cancer therapy.

Through years of research, it has been found that the effectiveness of some forms of radiation therapy and chemotherapy are enhanced when combined with hyperthermia.

Although the treatment was considered experimental 15-20 years ago, its proponents believe that the treatment has been accepted by many physicians, and that use of hyperthermia will increase as more cancer centers install the high-tech equipment necessary for regional and whole body hyperthermia. (Currently, cancer care centers offering this treatment are limited.) In 2001, the American Cancer Society acknowledges that hyperthermia can make the cancer cells of some cancers more responsive to treatment, but still considers the treatment experimental, especially in whole-body form. The National Institutes of Health are sponsoring ongoing clinical trials studying hyperthermia.

Precautions

Patients who have extensive metastasis (spreading of the cancer throughout their body) may not be good candidates for hyperthermia. Patients need to be free of major infections and able to tolerate the high temperatures of the treatment. Caution must be used when areas of the body are heated with external heat sources such as heating pads to avoid potentially dangerous burns.

Description

Hyperthermia can be used on the body from very small areas of the body to the entire body itself. Local hyperthermia refers to heating just one area of body, usually where the tumor is located. Heat can be applied from outside the body using microwaves or high-frequency radio waves. Heat can be applied from inside the body or even inside the tumor itself by the use of thin, heated wires, small tubes filled with hot water, or implanted microwave antennae.

If heat is used to treat an entire organ or limb, it is referred to as regional hyperthermia. High-energy magnets or other devices that produce high energy, and thus heat, are placed over the larger areas to be heated. Another method of regional hyperthermia is the use of perfusion. Hyperthermia perfusion uses the patient's own blood; the blood is removed, heated outside the body, then pumped back into the area that contains the cancer.

For treatment of cancers that have spread throughout the body, whole-body hyperthermia can be considered. Various methods are used to heat up a patient's entire body, including warm-water or electric blankets, hot wax, or thermal chambers which are very much like incubators used to warm newborn babies, except much larger.

Preparation

There are generally no advance preparations needed for a patient considering the use of hyperthermia.

Risks

The major risks of hyperthermia use are pain and external burns. Heat applied directly to the skin can cause minor discomfort to significant pain, especially when high temperatures are used. Blistering and actual burning of the skin can also occur at higher temperatures, although with careful application of the hyperthermia, these side effects are very rare.

Normal Results

The goal of hyperthermia is to control the growth and shrink hyperthermia-sensitive tumors. As stated earlier, hyperthermia can also be used to help sensitize tumors to other cancer treatment modalities such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Abnormal Results

There are generally no abnormal results seen with the use of hyperthermia. Side effects, such as pain and burning from external heat sources, can be minimized with careful application of the heat.