› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Has anyone tried hyperthermia along with radiation?
- This topic has 15 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 9 months ago by
Janner.
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- November 20, 2012 at 4:02 pm
I am trying to find out if it is worth trying the hypethermia treatments in combination with radiation. I have heard mixed reviews from the doctors.
I am trying to find out if it is worth trying the hypethermia treatments in combination with radiation. I have heard mixed reviews from the doctors.
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- November 20, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I used to work for a company that manufactured hyperthermia equipment. Hyperthermia is extensively used outside the US – mainly in Europe (Germany) and China. All the studies I have ever seen (not conducted in-house) show that radiation can work alone, and hyperthermia can work alone. But together, they provide a syngeristic effect. The basic principle of hyperthermia is to heat a tumor. Tumors don't tend to have blood supplies as good as normal tissue, so heating the area can cause cell death because the blood cannot cool the tumor fast enough. Heat in normal tissue can more easily dissipate. Hyperthermia will target the tumor to minimize heating of any normal tissue. Essentially, hyperthermia oxygenates (increases blood flow) and heats the area which enhances the ability of radiation to do it's job – especially for tumors generally not well affected by radiation. For example, doing radiation on women who have recurrent breast cancer. Radiation a second time is not an effective treatment for breast cancer. But by adding hyperthermia, radiation for recurrent breast cancer can be very effective. Radiation and hyperthermia and even chemo and hyperthermia both have better numbers than each modality done alone. If I were given the option of hyperthermia and radiation, I personally, would jump at the chance – especially since melanoma is known to be radiation resistant. There are few side effects with hyperthermia and those occur mainly during the actual treatment. Treated areas might feel a bit warmer and depending on location, some heating might occur at the skin. However, most hyperthermia treatments use some type of cooling system to counteract this. In general, hyperthermia treatments are extremely well tolerated.
Best wishes,
Janner
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- November 20, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Hyperthermia has been around for a long time. In other countries, it has gained acceptance by the medical community. In the US, there are some institutions that use it and most that don't. It can require significant "planning" to setup a treatment by a physicist or experienced doctor, and the hyperthermia equipment can be quite expensive. As it is more labor intensive in the setup, and insurance doesn't necessarily pay out high $$$ for this treatment, it is not as accepted here as it is in countries where maybe the socialized medicine allows doctors to be more open minded and less focused on the end $. There are also aspects of hyperthermia (deep tumor heating) that are approved in other countries but still waiting for FDA approval in the US. There are reasons it isn't "popular", but if you research studies that use hyperthermia with/without radiation, you will find better numbers on the combined therapies. There aren't a lot of hyperthermia companies out there, and my knowledge is based solely on the one I worked for with regards to treatment, efficacy, etc.
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- November 20, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Hyperthermia has been around for a long time. In other countries, it has gained acceptance by the medical community. In the US, there are some institutions that use it and most that don't. It can require significant "planning" to setup a treatment by a physicist or experienced doctor, and the hyperthermia equipment can be quite expensive. As it is more labor intensive in the setup, and insurance doesn't necessarily pay out high $$$ for this treatment, it is not as accepted here as it is in countries where maybe the socialized medicine allows doctors to be more open minded and less focused on the end $. There are also aspects of hyperthermia (deep tumor heating) that are approved in other countries but still waiting for FDA approval in the US. There are reasons it isn't "popular", but if you research studies that use hyperthermia with/without radiation, you will find better numbers on the combined therapies. There aren't a lot of hyperthermia companies out there, and my knowledge is based solely on the one I worked for with regards to treatment, efficacy, etc.
-
- November 20, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Hyperthermia has been around for a long time. In other countries, it has gained acceptance by the medical community. In the US, there are some institutions that use it and most that don't. It can require significant "planning" to setup a treatment by a physicist or experienced doctor, and the hyperthermia equipment can be quite expensive. As it is more labor intensive in the setup, and insurance doesn't necessarily pay out high $$$ for this treatment, it is not as accepted here as it is in countries where maybe the socialized medicine allows doctors to be more open minded and less focused on the end $. There are also aspects of hyperthermia (deep tumor heating) that are approved in other countries but still waiting for FDA approval in the US. There are reasons it isn't "popular", but if you research studies that use hyperthermia with/without radiation, you will find better numbers on the combined therapies. There aren't a lot of hyperthermia companies out there, and my knowledge is based solely on the one I worked for with regards to treatment, efficacy, etc.
-
- November 20, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I used to work for a company that manufactured hyperthermia equipment. Hyperthermia is extensively used outside the US – mainly in Europe (Germany) and China. All the studies I have ever seen (not conducted in-house) show that radiation can work alone, and hyperthermia can work alone. But together, they provide a syngeristic effect. The basic principle of hyperthermia is to heat a tumor. Tumors don't tend to have blood supplies as good as normal tissue, so heating the area can cause cell death because the blood cannot cool the tumor fast enough. Heat in normal tissue can more easily dissipate. Hyperthermia will target the tumor to minimize heating of any normal tissue. Essentially, hyperthermia oxygenates (increases blood flow) and heats the area which enhances the ability of radiation to do it's job – especially for tumors generally not well affected by radiation. For example, doing radiation on women who have recurrent breast cancer. Radiation a second time is not an effective treatment for breast cancer. But by adding hyperthermia, radiation for recurrent breast cancer can be very effective. Radiation and hyperthermia and even chemo and hyperthermia both have better numbers than each modality done alone. If I were given the option of hyperthermia and radiation, I personally, would jump at the chance – especially since melanoma is known to be radiation resistant. There are few side effects with hyperthermia and those occur mainly during the actual treatment. Treated areas might feel a bit warmer and depending on location, some heating might occur at the skin. However, most hyperthermia treatments use some type of cooling system to counteract this. In general, hyperthermia treatments are extremely well tolerated.
Best wishes,
Janner
-
- November 20, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I used to work for a company that manufactured hyperthermia equipment. Hyperthermia is extensively used outside the US – mainly in Europe (Germany) and China. All the studies I have ever seen (not conducted in-house) show that radiation can work alone, and hyperthermia can work alone. But together, they provide a syngeristic effect. The basic principle of hyperthermia is to heat a tumor. Tumors don't tend to have blood supplies as good as normal tissue, so heating the area can cause cell death because the blood cannot cool the tumor fast enough. Heat in normal tissue can more easily dissipate. Hyperthermia will target the tumor to minimize heating of any normal tissue. Essentially, hyperthermia oxygenates (increases blood flow) and heats the area which enhances the ability of radiation to do it's job – especially for tumors generally not well affected by radiation. For example, doing radiation on women who have recurrent breast cancer. Radiation a second time is not an effective treatment for breast cancer. But by adding hyperthermia, radiation for recurrent breast cancer can be very effective. Radiation and hyperthermia and even chemo and hyperthermia both have better numbers than each modality done alone. If I were given the option of hyperthermia and radiation, I personally, would jump at the chance – especially since melanoma is known to be radiation resistant. There are few side effects with hyperthermia and those occur mainly during the actual treatment. Treated areas might feel a bit warmer and depending on location, some heating might occur at the skin. However, most hyperthermia treatments use some type of cooling system to counteract this. In general, hyperthermia treatments are extremely well tolerated.
Best wishes,
Janner
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- November 21, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Please watch this interesting short video on Hyperthermia Therapy by Dr Michael Johnson.
Please click on the link below to view this video:
http://vimeo.com/user5839944/review/38101527/a04112ee02For more information and more videos on natural cancer protocols, please go to http://www.drjcancersupport.com
Best wishes,
Gene
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- November 21, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Please watch this interesting short video on Hyperthermia Therapy by Dr Michael Johnson.
Please click on the link below to view this video:
http://vimeo.com/user5839944/review/38101527/a04112ee02For more information and more videos on natural cancer protocols, please go to http://www.drjcancersupport.com
Best wishes,
Gene
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- November 21, 2012 at 8:16 pm
The therapy I described and the "whole body hyperthermia" therapy this doctor describes are two different things. Using a heating pad to raise the core temperature really isn't going to cut it. Most real hyperthermia treatments have some type of temperature sensor in/near the tumor and power is applied to keep the temperature at a therapeutic dose for a significant period of time. It's so much more sophisticated that some externally applied heat that you hope might raise the temperature of some internal tumor. In the US, hyperthermia treatments can target subcutaneous tumors. In Europe and Asia, they have the ability to treat deep tumors. That technology for heating deep tumors is still in the IDE stage (clinical trial stage) in the US although I believe it might be approved for one specific type of cancer. If you are really interested in the holistic whole body hyperthermia route (non-clinical), Germany is probably a leader in research. Actually, Germany is probably leads the world on ALL types of hyperthermia treatments – both holistic and clinical. It's a mainstream treatment there.
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- November 21, 2012 at 8:16 pm
The therapy I described and the "whole body hyperthermia" therapy this doctor describes are two different things. Using a heating pad to raise the core temperature really isn't going to cut it. Most real hyperthermia treatments have some type of temperature sensor in/near the tumor and power is applied to keep the temperature at a therapeutic dose for a significant period of time. It's so much more sophisticated that some externally applied heat that you hope might raise the temperature of some internal tumor. In the US, hyperthermia treatments can target subcutaneous tumors. In Europe and Asia, they have the ability to treat deep tumors. That technology for heating deep tumors is still in the IDE stage (clinical trial stage) in the US although I believe it might be approved for one specific type of cancer. If you are really interested in the holistic whole body hyperthermia route (non-clinical), Germany is probably a leader in research. Actually, Germany is probably leads the world on ALL types of hyperthermia treatments – both holistic and clinical. It's a mainstream treatment there.
-
- November 21, 2012 at 8:16 pm
The therapy I described and the "whole body hyperthermia" therapy this doctor describes are two different things. Using a heating pad to raise the core temperature really isn't going to cut it. Most real hyperthermia treatments have some type of temperature sensor in/near the tumor and power is applied to keep the temperature at a therapeutic dose for a significant period of time. It's so much more sophisticated that some externally applied heat that you hope might raise the temperature of some internal tumor. In the US, hyperthermia treatments can target subcutaneous tumors. In Europe and Asia, they have the ability to treat deep tumors. That technology for heating deep tumors is still in the IDE stage (clinical trial stage) in the US although I believe it might be approved for one specific type of cancer. If you are really interested in the holistic whole body hyperthermia route (non-clinical), Germany is probably a leader in research. Actually, Germany is probably leads the world on ALL types of hyperthermia treatments – both holistic and clinical. It's a mainstream treatment there.
-
- November 21, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Please watch this interesting short video on Hyperthermia Therapy by Dr Michael Johnson.
Please click on the link below to view this video:
http://vimeo.com/user5839944/review/38101527/a04112ee02For more information and more videos on natural cancer protocols, please go to http://www.drjcancersupport.com
Best wishes,
Gene
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