Prospects for Hyperthermia in Human Cancer Therapy

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Laboratory data from studies of hyperthermia as a potential antitumor agent indicate that tumor cells may be more sensitive to heat than normal tissue; hyperthermia enhances response to irradiation and can increase the therapeutic ratio; cells are most sensitive to hyperthermia during the S phase, when they are resistant to ionizing radions; the O2 effect is absent for hyperthermic cell killing, and radiation effects are less O2 dependent when potentiated by heat treatment and biological damage changes more rapidly at temperatures above 43.degree. C. Methods of heat production and dosimetry need to be refined further before these findings can be put to practical use in tumor therapy.