What Is Hyperthermia? A Guide to the Popular Alternative Cancer Treatment

The hyperthermia cancer treatment is not well known, even though it has been used for more than 100 years. This treatment, which uses heat to weaken and kill cancer cells, can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It can also be chosen on its own as an alternative cancer treatment.

Here are a few things you should know about hyperthermia, to help you decide if it could be the right cancer treatment for you.

🠥 1. Hyperthermia cancer treatment is like an artificial fever
When you contract an illness, your immune system reacts by increasing the temperature of your body. This is what we call fever, and it’s a natural way for the human body to fight infections and heal itself.

In the same way, the hyperthermia treatment uses heat to bring the body of a patient to fight against cancer cells. Hyperthermia is just like an artificial fever that is induced to help heal the body.

🠥 2. Heat can weaken and destroy cancer cells
Cancer cells can be killed by being exposed to about 108 degrees Fahrenheit for about one hour. Healthy cells will survive to this high temperature, which makes hyperthermia cancer treatment effective at targeting cancer cells that need to be destroyed.

Hyperthermia also uses heat to increase blood flow, capillary pressure and oxygen delivery, which helps improve the function of healthy cells to make the treatment even more effective.

🠥 3. Different types of cancer can benefit from hyperthermia
Different types of cancer can benefit from a hyperthermia cancer treatment. The treatment is often being used as an alternative to surgery to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer and bone cancer.

However, hyperthermia is increasingly being used against other types of cancer, either as a standalone alternative treatment or to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

🠥 4. Localised hyperthermia is used to treat a small area of the body
There are two different types of hyperthermia treatments. Localised hyperthermia, also called ablation or ablatherm, is a minimally invasive procedure that generates heat within a localized area of the body, to target a tumour. This heat can be applied with the help of radio frequency, ultrasound, or microwave.

While the core temperature of the whole body will remain the same, the temperature of the tumour will increase. The metabolic demand of the cells will increase, and eventually, the cancer cells will weaken, shrink and die.

🠥 5. Whole-body hyperthermia increases the entire body’s temperature
For whole-body hyperthermia, also called regional hyperthermia, a radiant infrared device is used to increase the temperature of the whole body of the patient instead of targeting a tumour. The body will then try to balance its temperature by increasing the size of blood vessels to stimulate blood flow.

Thanks to an increase in blood flow, immune cells will be brought more easily to the tumour. Cancer cells will get damaged by the heat, making it easier for immune cells to attack them. The damage done to cancer cells will also increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments.

🠥 6. Hyperthermia cancer treatment is not available everywhere
Unfortunately, hyperthermia is not available everywhere, and in some countries, it is very expensive. Many patients who are hoping to benefit from this cancer treatment will travel to Europe, to Mexico or to China to find more affordable options.

If you think hyperthermia could be the right cancer treatment for you, start by searching for a place where it could be offered in Canada before you pack your bags and plan a trip to another country.