Hyperthermia, has become widely used in many clinics, whole body hyperthermia is found outside the United States, yet local hyperthermia is seen in many hospitals lately in the United States. Local hyperthermia is good for targeting tumors, shrinking them directly; however whole-body hyperthermia better for cancer that has metastasized, heating the whole body, thus targeting the whole body as a cancer site.

What exactly is hyperthermia?

Hyperthermia therapy is a type of treatment in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures (up to 106ºF), to damage and kill cancer cells, or to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anticancer drugs. Local hyperthermia treatment (heat applied to a very small area, such as a tumor) is a well-established cancer treatment method with a simple basic principle: If a rise in temperature to 106ºF can be obtained for one hour within a cancer tumor, the cancer cells will be destroyed. Primary malignant tumors have a bad blood circulation, which make them more sensitive to changes in temperature.

• http://www.whale.to/cancer/schellander.html
• http://www.hyperthermie-zentrum.de/home.html?gclid=CIXgkNu9sK0CFYPc4AodSjynlg
• http://www.fachklinikdrherzog.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26&lang=en

History of hyperthermia

Hyperthermia is not new. Although in the United States the FDA currently treats hyperthermia as a new, experimental approach to treating cancer, and only allows such treatment to be combined with either low dose radiation and/or chemotherapy.  Elsewhere in the world, hyperthermia is recognized as a useful treatment in fighting and killing tumors and cancer cells.

Hyperthermia in Greek means to 'over-heat'. The Greeks used hyperthermia frequently. "Give me the power to produce fever and I heal every illness", said Parmenides, Greek physician, 540-480 B.C  Certainly, the use of hyperthermia and its effects have been well demonstrated and should it not have given results, its use abandoned.

Types of Hyperthermia

Local Hyperthermia

 In local hyperthermia treatment, heat is applied to a small area, such as a tumor, using various techniques that deliver energy to heat the tumor. Different types of energy may be used to apply heat, including microwave, radiofrequency, and ultrasound.  In local/regional hyperthermia treatment, various approaches may be used to heat large areas of tissue, such as a body cavity, organ, or limb.  Both are almost always used in combination with chemotherapy and more often radiation therapy; such treatment without the use of chemo or radiation is seen outside the United States.

Whole Body Blood Hyperthermia or Extracorporeal Whole-Body Hyperthermia

Extracorporeal WBH is achieved by re-infusion of extracorporeally heated blood. A circuit of blood is created outside the body by accessing an artery, usually the femoral artery, and creating an extracorporeal loop. The circulating blood is passed through a heating device, usually a water bath or hot air, and the heated blood is then re-injected into a major vein. The desired body temperature is adjusted and controlled by changing the volume flow of the warmed re-infused blood.

Another approach, called hyperthermia perfusion, a warmed solution containing anticancer drugs is used to bathe, or is passed through the blood vessels of, the tissue or organ containing the tumor. Some of your blood is removed, heated, and then pumped (perfused) into the region that is to be heated internally

Whole Body Hyperthermia

Whole body hyperthermia treatment (WBH), achieved with either radiant heat or extracorporeal technologies, elevates the temperature of the entire body to at least 41°c. In radiant WBH, heat is externally applied to the whole body using hot water blankets, hot wax, inductive coils, or thermal chambers. The patient is sedated throughout the WBH procedure, which lasts approximately four hours. The patient reaches target temperature within approximately 1.3 hours, is maintained at 41.8°c for one hour, and experiences a one-hour cooling phase. During treatment, the esophageal, rectal, skin and ambient air temperatures are monitored at 10-minute intervals. Small probes may be inserted into the tumor under a local anesthetic to monitor the temperature of the affected tissue and surrounding tissue. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and cardiac rhythm are continuously monitored

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Whole Body Hyperthermia

Local or Surface Hyperthermia

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