The Role of Whole Body Hyperthermia In Cancer Care

Hyperthermia is a condition in which the body temperatures are higher than the normal degrees. Hyperthermia can be caused by certain diseases but it can also be created by medical experts to help in treatment of certain diseases especially cancer. In this case it is referred to as heat treatment. Higher than normal temperatures are known to cause various health complications but in hyperthermia the heat is under careful control of qualified medical personnel hence cannot kill the patient but only kill the cancerous cells.

Use of hyperthermia which is also called thermal therapy in cancer treatment involves exposing the patient’s body tissues to high temperatures of up to 113°F.Thermal therapy is used to kill or damage the cancerous cells without or with minimal hurt to the healthy cells.

Thermal treatment helps in making the cancer cells more vulnerable to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. High temperatures may also kill the cancer cells instantly. Hyperthermia is very effective in treatment of cancer but it may also lead to the death of healthy cells for this reason it needs to be handled by doctors who are well versed in the area and can take good control of the heat so as to avoid harm to the patient.

Hyperthermia had been used in the past however, back then the tools used in hyperthermia were not as effective and so the results were not constant. The reason to this was that the doctors were finding it hard to maintain that heat on a specific area of the body for a certain time without affecting the remaining parts of the body that was not subject to the treatment. This means the other body parts that did not have cancerous cells also got affected adversely. Nevertheless there are no hopes lost as today’s tools used in hyperthermia are more effective and it is now easy to control the heat on a certain area without affecting the rest of the body. Today very many health institutions are using hyperthermia in treatment of cancer worldwide.

There are different types of hyperthamia depending on the area the heat is concentrated. I had tackled the different types of hyperthermia in the past and today we are going to learn about the whole body hyperthermia and how it can be effectively used in cancer treatment.

Whole-body hyperthermia

The whole hyperthermia as used in cancer treatment involves the application of heat on the entire body of the cancer patient. Whole body hyperthermia mainly used in treating cancer that has spread to other body parts in other words it is used in treatment of metastatic cancer. There are varieties of methods through which the heat can be applied to the whole body. These methods may include but not limited to: hot-water blankets, special coiled devices or special thermal chambers that are like large incubators.

The whole body hyperthermia involves increasing the body temperatures but the heat used in local hyperthermia is much higher than the heat used in whole body hyperthermia. In whole body hyperthermia the temperatures are raise above 43 degrees Celsius. The whole body thermal therapy is mostly used with other conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Thermal therapy does lots to kill the cancer cells. when the proteins in the cancer cells gets coagulated and the blood vessels that supply the cancer cells with nutrients are destroyed, the cancer cells remains with no food source and so they die out of starvation and damage caused by the thermal therapy. The thermal therapy literally cooks the surrounding of the cancer cells depleting all the proteins in the cancer cells and destroying the blood vessels they rely on for supplies of the necessary nutrients.

To retain the heat the cancer patient may be placed in a tent that is made of a very flexible thermal insulator. The tent which is placed over a patients bed or treating table helps in keeping the heat. The tent is spacious enough to let the patient move about in it during the treatment. The tent is also fitted with transparent windows to help the patient keep in touch with relatives who might have come to visit him or her during the treatment. This heat will be retained up to the time that it has been used effectively in killing the cancerous cells.

The whole body hyperthermia helps the body in fighting cancer in several ways. Today very many cancer patients are going through whole body hyperthermia as a treatment to their disease. Here are some of the ways through which it helps in fighting cancer.

The whole body hyperthermia stimulates the body’s natural immune system to fight the cancer cells.
It helps in increasing the cancer cell recognition by the body’s immune system hence can be easily targeted and killed.
It also increases the immune system chemicals that fight the cancer cells
Increases the strength of macrophage, lymphocyte, cytotoxic T cells and dendritic cells in the body. These help the immune system in fighting cancer.
increases the more beneficial heat-shock proteins
The whole body hyperthermia also increases blood flow-oxygen to the more low oxygen tumors. Cancer cell do not thrive where there is lots of oxygen.
It also weakens the tumor cell walls hence making them more vulnerable to chemotherapy
Whole body hyperthermia also helps in reducing cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Dr. Dalal Akoury is an experienced integrative cancer doctor who has seen very many cancer patients journey to victory in their fight against cancer. She is available for consultations. Just call her now and begin your journey to victory against cancer.