Hyperthermia Therapy

Hyperthermia therapy uses heat to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. Healthcare providers mostly use it to make chemotherapy and radiation therapy work better. Other names for it include thermotherapy and thermal ablation.

The idea that heat can fight cancer has been around for a long time. But experts are still learning about all of its uses in modern treatment. It’s mostly available in research settings, like clinical trials.

Your healthcare provider may suggest it if you have:

• Cancer that hasn’t responded to other treatments
• Deep tumors that surgery can’t reach
• Conditions that keep you from having surgery
• Small tumors near the surface of your skin
• Tumors in a body cavity

Types

Healthcare providers use different forms of energy to make heat. Heat sources include radio waves, microwaves and ultrasound. Newer treatments use tiny substances called nanoparticles. Nanoparticles generate heat when light and shifting magnetic fields activate them.

Hyperthermia therapy may be:

• Local: The heat targets small tumors. They may be near your skin’s surface or inside a body cavity.
• Regional: The heat treats tumors in body cavities, organs or limbs. The heat may come from a device that stays outside of your body. Or your healthcare provider may circulate heated fluids inside a region of your body.
• Whole-body: This treatment heats your entire body. It helps cancer treatments fight tumors that have spread. Your provider may use a heated blanket, an incubator or a warm water bath to raise your body temperature. It’s less common than the other types.

What happens during treatment?

Healthcare providers use heat to:

• Weaken cancer cells: Temperatures are as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). At these temperatures, tumor cells become more vulnerable to other cancer treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
• Kill the cells: Thermal ablation uses temperatures higher than 113 F (45 C) to kill tumor cells directly.

All thermotherapies use thermometers to measure the heat and keep you safe. You’ll receive anesthesia, so you don’t feel pain.

Local hyperthermia therapy

Your healthcare provider may use a machine to aim high-energy waves toward the tumor. This is what happens during high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). HIFU uses focused sound waves to raise the temperature of the targeted tissue (tumor). This heat destroys tumors. It doesn’t require any incisions (cuts) in your skin. 

During radiofrequency ablation and laser interstitial thermal therapy, providers heat tumors directly. They insert a probe into your skin and direct it to tumors deep inside your body. Once the probe reaches the tumor, the tip releases a heated current that kills tumor cells.

Regional hyperthermia therapy

Regional therapy fills body cavities or limbs with chemotherapy drugs. Most people receive the treatment during surgery.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a good example. Your provider fills your abdomen with heated chemo after they remove tumors. The chemo destroys any remaining cancer cells.

Limb perfusion is a regional hyperthermia therapy for advanced melanoma. During treatment, you receive heated chemotherapy in the affected limb through a catheter. Your provider isolates the blood vessels to that limb. The chemo only stays in that part of your body.

Whole-body hyperthermia therapy

Your healthcare provider slowly raises your temperature to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). They keep it at that temperature for a few hours. Then, they slowly return your temperature to normal. They may follow the heat treatment with chemotherapy.

How long will I need this treatment?

Usually, the higher the temperature, the shorter the treatment session. Procedures using heat that’s high enough to kill tumor cells directly don’t typically take as long as treatments that weaken the cells.

If you’re getting thermotherapy to help with other treatments, talk to your healthcare provider. You’ll likely receive thermotherapy based on your chemo or radiation therapy schedule.

What are the potential benefits and risks of this treatment?

Hyperthermia therapy can destroy tumors. And it can help other cancer treatments work better. Depending on how it’s used, it can:

• Activate your immune system to fight cancer better
• Increase circulation so chemotherapy drugs reach tumors more easily
• Prevent cancer cells from making repairs after radiation damages them
• Increase oxygen in tumors so radiation is able to destroy tumors better

Most people tolerate treatment well. There’s a risk of burns, bruises and blisters because of the heat. But healthcare providers take great care to deliver this therapy safely.

There are also risks that are specific to the treatment type. Your provider will explain them based on the therapy they recommend.

What is the long-term outlook after hyperthermia therapy?

Heat therapy can shrink tumors and reduce symptoms. It can improve tumor control. In some cases, it helps people live longer.

And possibilities for future uses are promising. Experts continue to research energy sources that kill tumors but spare healthy tissue.