Whole-body hyperthermia with water-filtered infrared radiation: technical-physical aspects and clinical experiences

Abstract

Among the different methods of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH), the energy transfer with infrared radiation seems to have established itself as a relatively simple procedure. The infrared systems differ with regard to the used spectrum of radiation. In the case of water-filtered infrared radiation, infrared A (760-1400 nm) is the focal point of heat radiation. This radiation penetrates deep into the skin up to the capillary area of the corium. Eighty treatments of patients in an advanced stage of cancer (40 male, 40 female, April 1998-April 1999) were performed with a WBH device with water-filtered infrared radiation, IRATHERM 2000. Extreme WBH was combined with induced hyperglycaemia and relative hyperoxaemia, and for 83% of the patients with chemotherapy as well. The body-core temperature was measured rectally (85%) or vesically. The objectives of the thermal control were a low rate of side-effects and a quick rise of the body-core temperature with regard to the condition of the patient's skin. The mean duration of the rising phase (37.5-41.5 degrees C) was 87 +/- 19 min. A correlation between lamp power and rising time (r = 0.08) was not found. Moreover, no correlation could be found between the appearance of thermal lesions > or = WHO 2nd degree and the lamp power. Thermal lesions according to WHO 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees appeared in the case of 20, 15 and one treatment, respectively. Their area amounted in 2nd-degree cases to 0.08% of the body surface, on average. The highest mean temperature over 60 min (T60) was 42.1 +/- 0.1 degrees C, and the mean of maximum temperature (Tmax) was 42.3 +/- 0.1 degrees C. The mean thermal isoeffect dose EM43 was 35.8 +/- 6.3 min. WBH with water-filtered infrared radiation in combination with induced hyperglycaemia and relative hyperoxaemia (procedure of systemic Cancer Multistep Therapy) is a safe and practicable procedure with good tolerability in the case of experienced application. It permits a rapid rise of body-core temperature and a high thermal constancy in the plateau phase. An all-around access to the patient is possible in all therapy phases.

Hyperthermia, Radiation and Chemotherapy: The Role of Heat in Multidisciplinary Cancer Care

“…(52)(53)(54)(55) The heating process can be accelerated using infrared radiation. (56) For some applications, regional heating is sufficient with invasive approaches like intraperitoneal irrigation (57) or circulating blood that is heated by exteriorized arterio-venus shunts through organs (58) or limbs (59) .…”

Whole-body hyperthermia in combination with platinum-containing drugs in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer

“…The adverse effects have been decreased with this method, because this type of filtered infrared radiation results in a higher penetration depth and in a more regular heating of the tissue. 17 An artificial increase in the glucose level induces additional acidosis and causes a synergistic cytotoxic effect. 18 Many clinical trials have been performed to study the effects of hyperthermia in cancer therapy.…”

An analytical study of heat transfer in a finite tissue region with two blood vessels and general Dirichlet boundary conditions

“…We studied the effects of the fluctuations at the vessel wall two on the heat transfer rates and PCSFs as a function of the geometrical parameters for the typical case of cold vessels [12,41,42], i.e., when the average tissue boundary temperature is higher than the average vessel wall temperatures [38]. To perform the parametric study, different fluctuation parameters in Eq.…”

“…Different values are assigned in Eq. (34) between: 0 and 1 for the magnitudes of fluctuations (T vw2,2 ) (which corresponds to ±5°C) [39][40][41]; 0 and p for the phase angles (/ vw2 ), i.e., by rotating the imposed temperature fields (simulating non-uniform tissue temperature distribution), and 0 and 3 for n vw2 , i.e., by varying the number of the imposed fluctuation peaks (simulating non-uniform tissue temperature distribution) (Figs. 3-11).…”

“…Also, since in high temperature therapy applications the temperature of the vessel wall and the tissue boundary usually varies in between 38°C and 43°C, this gives the average vessel two wall temperature of 41°C [39][40][41] which is reasonable since arteries bring in cooler blood to the heated tissues from rest of the body and veins take out warmer blood from the heated arteries and veins.…”