US University launches study on hyperthermia in lung cancer

Researchers at the University of Kentucky (UK) are launching a new study on the treatment of advanced lung cancer through whole-body hyperthermia. As with other applications of hyperthermia, this test is based on the assumption that cancer cells are more susceptible to heat damage than normal tissue. The study targets patients with advanced lung cancer who have completed standard therapy and have no other conventional options.

The announcement in the study states: "The goal in any cancer treatment is to attack the diseased cells and leave the healthy cells alone. Healthy cells have a signaling mechanism that protects them from increases in body temperature. This mechanism is defective in cancer cells, which opens up the potential for new treatment. "The benefits of parallel treatment of cancer with heat and conventional therapies were already highlighted in a 2006 study in Providence, US. Researchers at that time also looked at patients with inoperable lung cancer treated with radiation or radiation plus hyperthermia alone.

Lung cancer is one of the more common cancers in Germany. Its unfavorable prognosis makes it by far the most common cause of cancer death among men (25 percent) and the third most common among women (14 percent) (Center for Cancer Registry Data).

Prof. Dr. András Szász, founder of oncothermia, a locally used hyperthermia: "The new US research also assumes that diseased tissue reacts differently to thermal treatment by hyperthermia than healthy. Selection leads to stimulation of the malignant cells. Their natural behavior is disturbed and the immune system is activated ".

Oncothermia extends the depth heating of hyperthermia by a modulated electric field generated by two electrodes, one below, one above the patient lying down. Studies have shown that malignant tissue has a higher conductivity than healthy ones. (Pm)