Jornal de Bioengenharia e Tecnologia Médica

Whole body hyperthermia as an alternative therapeutic approach in cancer treatment

Fahimeh Faghihi Moghadam

Hyperthermia refers to elevation tumor temperature from 39 up to 43 degree Celsius. Actually therapeutic hyperthermia has been used as an adjuvant treatment for cancer, since end of the 19th century after observations William Coley who found that tumor is diminished after induction of fever by bacterial toxins. Hyperthermia therapy refers to treatment tumors through heating which has been used since the time of the ancient Egyptians. The term hyperthermia in oncology means treatment of malignant disease by heating in different ways. Hyperthermia nowadays can be applied in combination with other modalities such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy in cancer treatment. Actually the exact mechanism of direct HT-induced cell death is not well understood. Typically there are three categories for hyperthermia, including local, regional and whole body. Based on the temperature whole body hyperthermia classify in three type, mild, fever range and extreme. In mild hyperthermia, the temperature is from 37.5 up to 38.5 degree Celsius in fever range hyperthermia, 38.5 up to 40 degree Celsius and extreme hyperthermia, the temperatureabove 40 degree Celsius. Nowadays whole body hyperthermia known as immunotherapy related to cancer treatment in oncology. To regard as many studies that has demonstrated immunological effects of Fever Range Whole-body Hyperthermia (FR-WBH). The most important role of elevation temperature in fever range is immunological effects. It is now appreciated that heating tumors (in situ) can activate vascular, metabolic and immunologic parameters of the tumor microenvironment which may play an additional role in radio chemosensitization beyond hyperthermia induced cell killing of tumor cells. Here we will review whole body hyperthermia related to cancer treatment.