Hyperthermia as an Adjunct to the Standard Treatment of Neoplastic Diseases: Few Cures but some Advances

Laboratory and clinical data. confirm that hyperthermia may enhance the therapeutic index of ionizing radiation and specific cytotoxic drugs As for whole-body hyperthermia (WBH), several generations of trials have been performed. Especially in refractory sarcomas, the combination of WBH and chemotherapy with ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide led to a striking increase of response rates compared to chemotherapy alone. Toxicity of WBH procedures can be limited by using a radiant heat device; To evaluate:the role of WBH in different tumor entities, several: trials are under way. Hyperthermia, especially WBH, seems to stimulate the immune system, e.g. natural killer cell activity and number of cytotoxic T cells. Furthermore, the expression of the intracellular adhesion molecule 1 in tumors is enhanced by:WBH, leading to an increased response of lymphokine;activated killer cells. As for locoregional hyperthermia, local control rates can be increased in combination with radiotherapy, e.g. in recurrent breast cancer and melanoma. Triple modality therapy (radiochemothermotherapy) Seems to be useful especially in large lesions with poor prognosis.