Hyperthermia is a medical treatment for cancer using artificially induced heat that ranges from 40-44°C for f 30-60 minutes. Because of its radiosensitizing capabilities Hyperthermia can be combined with radiation to treat superficial malignancies. Breast cancer is a type of common malignancy and is found to be among the leading causes of death worldwide. Most patients with superficial breast cancer recurrences either on their chest wall due to mastectomy or on their breast due to the conservation of their breast tend to have poor clinical records. Such patients always develop metastatic diseases.

Hyperthermia was used more than 5000years ago in the treatment of breast cancer by the Egyptian papyrus (Mu, et al. 4907; Beik, et al 210; Sangnier, et al. 278).In the present, hyperthermia is not recommended to be used as a single therapy because it can only heat small tumors and it will just be effective for a short period. That is why it’s now combined with radiotherapy. With this combination, it will help in improving tumor control and relapse to patients who have advanced tumors and high risk of different entities. Hyperthermia may affect cells in the S phase. This is a part of the cell cycle where radiation therapy is less effective. Many patients had shown positive results after they underwent treatment following the combination of Hyperthermia with Radiotherapy unlike when they were using Radiotherapy alone.

Ever since the combination of hyperthermia and radiotherapy, it was found that the number of patients with superficial measurable tumors had reduced significantly compared to when radiation used alone. In research conducted by the Medical Research Council in the UK shows that when Hyperthermia and Radiotherapy are used together, there is an increase in the reduction of tumors in the breast. Nevertheless, the combination of Hyperthermia and radiotherapy affects the immune system this results in the release of wrong signals to the body system. Hyperthermia increases the infiltration and functioning of dendritic cells which tend to play an essential role in the immune activation. This may result in the occurrence of antitumor immunity.

Work cited

Mu, Chaofeng, et al. “Chemotherapy sensitizes therapy-resistant cells to mild hyperthermia by suppressing heat shock protein 27 expression in triple-negative breast cancer.” Clinical Cancer Research 24.19 (2018): 4900-4912.

Elming, Pernille B., et al. “Hyperthermia: The Optimal Treatment to Overcome Radiation Resistant Hypoxia.” Cancers 11.1 (2019): 60.

Behrouzkia, Zhaleh, et al. “Hyperthermia: how can it be used?.” Oman medical journal 31.2 (2016): 89.

Mantso, Theodora, et al. “Effects of hyperthermia as a mitigation strategy in DNA damage-based cancer therapies.” Seminars in cancer biology. Vol. 37. Academic Press, 2016.

Beik, Jaber, et al. “Nanotechnology in hyperthermia cancer therapy: From fundamental principles to advanced applications.” Journal of Controlled Release 235 (2016): 205-221.

Sangnier, Anouchka Plan, et al. “Targeted thermal therapy with genetically engineered magnetite magnetosomes@ RGD: Photothermia is far more efficient than magnetic hyperthermia.” Journal of Controlled Release 279 (2018): 271-281.

Issels, Rolf, et al. “Hallmarks of hyperthermia in driving the future of clinical hyperthermia as targeted therapy: translation into clinical application.” International Journal of Hyperthermia 32.1 (2016): 89-95.

Dewhirst, Mark W., Chen-Ting Lee, and Kathleen A. Ashcraft. “The future of biology in driving the field of hyperthermia.” International Journal of Hyperthermia 32.1 (2016): 4-13.

Mallory, Matthew, et al. “Therapeutic hyperthermia: The old, the new, and the upcoming.” Critical reviews in oncology/hematology 97 (2016): 56-64.

Mantso, Theodora, et al. “Effects of hyperthermia as a mitigation strategy in DNA damage-based cancer therapies.” Seminars in cancer biology. Vol. 37. Academic Press, 2016.