Hyperthermia in Cancer Treatment
Used for centuries in Europe to treat various diseases, hyperthermia causes a pronounced increase in white blood cell count. The white blood cells are the core of the disease fighting antibodies of the body. Hyperthermia is the heating of the body to temperatures well above normal for short periods of time. It can be induced by injection or by external heating such as a hot bath. In 1984, the FDA approved this practice as a valid cancer treatment. Five years later, the National Cancer Institute stated that heat therapy increases the effectiveness of other treatments by 25 to 35 percent. In phase III clinical trials, when hyperthermia therapy was added to radiation therapy, significant improvements were reported for certain tumors, approximately doubling the rate of tumor response for some cancers. Research is currently evaluating the effectiveness of hyperthermia in supporting drug delivery by enlarging tumor pores. A recent Boston Globe article observed that traditional therapies offer little to help shrink cancerous tumors. The article went on the say that, according to clinical studies, when tumors are treated with radiation therapy and hyperthermia in combination, they tend to shrink, sometimes dramatically.
This is yet another classic example of how complementary cancer therapy by integrative oncologists can greatly enhance conventional treatment. How many conventional oncologists practice hyperthermia with their radiation or chemotherapy? Hardly any of them. We must organize a grassroots initiated strategy of integrative oncology if we are ever to win the war on cancer. Join the Connie Thompson Foundation and other organizations pursuing this end. Public awareness and support for the new strategy is our purpose for being.