Chemoradiotherapy and concurrent radiofrequency thermal therapy to treat primary rectal cancer and prediction of treatment responses

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate a previously reported predictive formula of output-limiting symptoms induced by radiofrequency (RF) to determine the efficacy of this neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NACR) and concurrent RF thermal therapy. The present study included 81 consecutive patients with confirmed diagnoses of rectal adenocarcinoma that was localized in the mid-low rectum (up to 12 cm from the anal verge) who received NACR [intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), 50 Gy/25 fractions, capecitabine 1,700 mg/m2/day for 5 days/week)] with concurrent thermal therapy (Thermotron-RF8, once a week for 5 weeks with 50 min irradiation). Patients with progressive disease (PD) did not receive RF outputs higher than the predicted value. Some patients who were predicted to receive more output in fact received more than the predicted output. In patients who were predicted to receive moderately higher outputs, 37.5% of the patients experienced pathological complete responses, which was the highest rate, while in those who did not receive more than the predicted output, 66.7% of the patients experienced PD, which was the highest rate in the present study. We speculate that RF thermal therapy may offset the chemoradiation effects in some patients. Adding thermal therapy as a multimodality therapy to NACR potentially affects patients with lower predicted outputs and actual observed outputs slightly higher than the predictive value. Our predictive equation for initial energy output, in which output-limiting symptoms can be used to predict treatment efficacy, consequently, can be used to decide whether to continue this treatment modality.

Microwave ablation combined with transarterial chemoembolization containing doxorubicin hydrochloride liposome for treating primary and metastatic liver cancers

“… 26 Second, liposomal formulations such as DHL have been shown to circulate in the blood for an extended period and erupt due to the enhanced permeability retention (EPR) effect, which ensures that the formulation remains in the tumor for as long as possible. 16 , 27 The delivery system of the tumor-feeding artery can increase intratumoral drug concentration. Meanwhile, heat in the tumor area after ablation can further induce the release of chemotherapeutic drugs.…”

Efficacy of Hyperthermia in Treatment of Recurrent Metastatic Breast Cancer After Long-Term Chemotherapy: A Report of 2 Cases

“…Recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of hyperthermia in treating breast cancer [ 24 – 26 ]. Furthermore, some reports have demonstrated the efficacy of RF hyperthermia for advanced cancer concomitant with chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy [ 27 , 28 ]. Similarly, we applied 8 MHz RF hyperthermia equipment introduced in our hospital in October 2019 in combination with chemotherapy, and the patients received the combination therapy without major adverse events.…”

Anti-Metastatic Benefits Produced by Hyperthermia and a CCL3 Derivative

“…Clinically, radiofrequency hyperthermia (RHT) has widely been used as adjuvant therapy combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy [17,18]. Until now, however, most animal studies used a water bath as a heat source due to difficulty in obtaining proper heating instruments for use in small animals [19,20,21,22,23].…”