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Dr. Jason Molitoris explains how hyperthermia therapy can be combined with brachytherapy to treat recurrent prostate cancer.
Heating cancer cells — even by a few degrees — can help radiation and chemotherapy more effectively shrink tumors.
Hyperthermia therapy uses heat in a targeted way to raise the temperature of the tumor and, in turn, the effectiveness of these cancer treatments.
At the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC), our hyperthermia therapy specialists offers this treatment, which research has linked with improved survival, as part of a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan.
Hyperthermia therapy is a noninvasive procedure that does not require general anesthesia. It involves heating tumors to 104 to 111 degrees Fahrenheit (40 to 44 degrees Celsius). Internal and external temperature probes allow doctors to continuously monitor the therapeutic temperature to ensure the treatment is delivered correctly.
The heat opens up the blood vessels in the tumor, which fills them with more oxygen. This extra oxygen makes tumor cells more sensitive to other forms of standard therapy, including radiation and chemotherapy.
In addition, the heat has been shown to boost some patients' immune systems, which can help them better fight cancer.
Hyperthermia therapy can also be an important treatment for tumors that occur in areas that were previously treated with radiation therapy.
Because it is associated with improved survival rates and prevention of complications, hyperthermia therapy can be added to the treatment plans for many different cancers. The most common cancer sites that hyperthermia therapy is used for include:
In addition, using hyperthermia therapy to treat a cancer is associated with lowering a person's chances of developing a secondary cancer by as much as a third or more.
At UMGCCC, some of our radiation oncologists have expertise in three different kinds of hyperthermia therapy:
For both external and deep tissue hyperthermia therapy, patients undergo 60-minute treatment sessions, two times a week, for about four to five weeks. Side effects may include blisters or slight pain at the treatment site, but these are minimal.
Meet the UMGCCC Hyperthermia Therapy Experts
UMGCCC radiation oncologists also use deep tissue hyperthermia therapy together with proton therapy.
This treatment can be especially important for abdominal and pelvic cancers, such as those of the bladder, rectum, cervix, ovaries and pancreas as well as sarcoma (connective tissue cancers).
Having both proton therapy and deep tissue hyperthermia therapy under one roof at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC) is especially convenient because these treatments are usually given within an hour of each other.
Hyperthermia therapy is just one of the many cancer treatments offered at UMGCCC that uses heat.
Other types of thermal cancer treatments include:
To make an appointment at UM Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore, call 410-328-6080. Or, contact one of our other four radiation oncology locations in Central and Eastern Maryland.