|
Hyperthermia is a heat treatment which when used with Radiation Therapy can significantly increase the response rate to treatment, particularly in patients who had previously been treated with radiation. Saint Barnabas Medical Center is the first hospital in New Jersey to offer the treatment which is recommended for individuals with superficial localized tumor recurrences and who have failed conventional treatment including prior radiation, surgery or chemotherapy. Hyperthermia has been used in conjunction with Radiation Therapy to treat breast cancer, head and neck cancers, skin cancers, melanomas, cancer in lymph nodes and sarcomas in soft tissue. The treatment is done on an outpatient basis and usually consists of three to five weeks of daily radiation and two sessions of hyperthermia per week. The Hyperthermia treatments last for 45 to 60 minutes with minimal side effects or discomfort.
Wayne resident, Marcia Rosenkrantz has been battling breast cancer for more than nine years. Having had a lumpectomy, radiation, a mastectomy and other treatments, many of the tools to combat her cancer had been exhausted. Last spring after one surgery, an ugly thick scab like rash (recurrent tumor) developed around her chest. "Although it did not hurt, it was gross. I had never seen anything like it and wanted to get rid of it," she said. Because of her previous history, her options were very limited until Ms. Rosenkrantz went to the Radiation Oncology Department at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. She learned that she was a candidate for Hyperthermia in conjunction with Radiation Therapy. For Ms. Rosenkrantz, this therapy was amazing. Within six weeks the rash was gone.
This treatment is generally not a cure but is a palliative treatment that adds to the tool box available for treating cancer. We have examples of patients with chest wall cancers who previously failed radiation treatment but by using Hyperthermia in conjunction with Radiation Therapy. They had their tumors shrink away.
[ top ]
|
|
|
