On the topic of German cancer treatments, the orthodox German Cancer Society has praised hyperthermia for "putting the heat on advanced cervical cancer." Two trials have now documented a good rate of success using a combination of radiation therapy along with deep hyperthermia for treating advanced cervical cancer.

One treatment option for advanced cervical cancer, the Society explains, is a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. But chemotherapy is not feasible for all patients because of general health or other reasons. Also, if a tumor has already spread beyond the cervix and penetrated the surrounding tissues, it is often impossible to eliminate through the use of radiotherapy alone. In such cases, the German oncologists say, "combining radiotherapy with deep hyperthermia can produce better results."

The papers in question were published in the International Journal of RadiationOncology, Biology, Physics in 2008 and 2009. They showed that tumor growth was better controlled, and survival rates increased, using the combination of hyperthermia and radiation therapy. The heat was generated by electromagnetic radiofrequency(RF) waves. By using modern computer technology, doctors can closely target the cancer, while adversely affecting surrounding healthy tissue to a minimum degree.

Women who participated in these trials had either locally advanced disease or had disease that had already spread to lymph nodes, other organs in the pelvic area, and internal organs adjacent to the pelvic area (stages II through IVA). When compared to those patients receiving radiation therapy alone, the combination of radiation therapy and deep hyperthermia produced dramatic improvements in both response rates and tumor control.

Furthermore, long-term survival rates improved. In the 2008 paper, overall survival was "persistently better" after 12 years: 20 percent for radiotherapy alone vs. 37 percent for the combination, a near doubling, which was also statistically significant (Franckena 2008). So while hyperthermia doesn't exactly "cook cancer while you nap," the way some Internet sites claim, it certainly does improve one's chances of being alive at 12 years (and therefore probably cured) than with radiation therapy alone.

But here's the part that I find really encouraging: the aforementioned organization of orthodox German researchers now recommends that its members offer "the option of combined radiotherapy and deep hyperthermia to patients who cannot undergo chemotherapy." In fact, they point out that at Dutch radiotherapy centers, this combination of radiation therapy plus hyperthermia is already standard practice. "In Germany so far, this treatment option is only offered in specialized centers," they say. I applaud their willingness to now endorse this treatment, which has been pioneered at German CAM clinics for decades.

Contrast this to the situation in the United States where the use of hyperthermia is limited to a few dozen centers. Appreciation of the benefit of heat therapy among conventional oncologists is minimal. Standard German cancer doctors have shown themselves to be more receptive to promising new methods than their American peers.

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

Resources:

http://www.hyperthermie.org (in German).

References:

Franckena M, Stalpers LJ, Koper PC, et al. Long-term improvement in treatment outcome after radiotherapy and hyperthermia in locoregionally advanced cervix cancer: an update of the Dutch Deep Hyperthermia Trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008;70:1176-82.


Franckena M, Lutgens LC, Koper PC, et al. Radiotherapy and hyperthermia for treatment of primary locally advanced cervix cancer: results in 378 patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2009;73:242-250.


Wiggenraad RG, Hoogenraad WJ, van Dijk JD, Warlam-Rodenhuis CC, Jobsen JJ, van Rhoon GC, van der Zee J. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008;70:1176-82.