Local Hyperthermia for Melanoma

Melanoma Treatment: Local Hyperthermia

In hyperthermia, tissue is exposed to high temperatures (up to 106ºF), to damage and kill cancer cells, or to make them more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anticancer drugs. Local hyperthermia treatment (heat applied to a very small area, such as a melanoma tumor) is an established cancer treatment method based upon a basic principle: If you can increase the temperature within the tumor to 106ºF for one hour, the malignant cells will be destroyed. Blood circulates poorly in primary malignant tumors, so they are more sensitive to changes in temperature.

Hyperthermia is almost always used in combination with radiation therapy, chemotherapy and/or biotherapy/immunotherapy when treating melanoma. The treatment area may be heated externally with high-frequency waves aimed at a tumor from a device outside the body. One of several types of sterile probes may be used to achieve internal heating, including thin, heated wires or hollow tubes filled with warm water; implanted microwave antennae; and radiofrequency electrodes.

Our Sonotherm 1000 employs ultrasound to administer local hyperthermia to solid tumor cancers. This technique uses ultra-high frequency sound waves to produce heat within the tumor. Physicians can more easily focus ultrasound than other energy modalities, and it can be applied to tumors located in the skin to 8-centimeters deep within your body. Sonotherm 1000 allows the treatment of tumors other external modalities can't reach. Further, ultrasound doesn't require that medical personnel protect themselves with radiowave shielding devices during treatment.

Hyperthermia perfusion is another approach offered at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). Using this method, a warmed solution containing anticancer drugs is either used to bathe, or is passed through the blood vessels of the cancerous tissue. Some of your blood is removed, heated and then pumped (perfused) into the region that is to be heated internally.

Typically, hyperthermia does not cause a marked increase in radiation side effects. About half the people treated with this procedure, however, experience discomfort or even significant local pain when heat is applied directly to the skin. Hyperthermia can also cause blisters, which generally heal rapidly (depending on the health of the patient’s skin). Less commonly, this procedure can cause burns.

Next Topic: Complementary Therapies for Melanoma