Medical science has not ceased researching on aggressive treatment for cancer. In recent years, there had been major breakthroughs.

One of these reported breakthroughs is the use of hyperthermia also called thermal or thermotherapy, in which body tissues, tumors or abnormal growths are exposed to high temperatures. Heat can reportedly shrink tumors and eliminate cancer cells. Studies have also shown that high temperatures can damage and kill cancer cells, usually with minimal injury to normal tissues. This procedure is almost always used with other modes of cancer therapy such as radiation and chemotherapy.

In a recent paper authored by Doctor Tsutomu Sugahara, Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University, Japan, he said that the anti-tumor effect of hyperthermia is more pronounced when used in combination with radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Notably, the professor also added that thermotherapy enhances the efficacy of other anti-cancer medication. Thus far, according to Sugahara, hyperthermia has been used to mainly treat advanced cancers, which were incurable with conventional method.

Interestingly, the professor wrote that the use of heat for cancer treatment can be traced back to the ancient Romans and Greeks. He said that modern interest in hyperthermia began when a German doctor, Dr. Buetzse, reported that a sarcoma, cancer in connective tissue, in a patient’s face disappeared after experiencing very high fever twice. After which he proposed the use of heat higher that the normal body temperature to kill cancer cells, thus presaging the use of heat in dealing with cancerous growths.

The good news is the state-of-the art technology now popularly accepted and recognized by the overly-strict Japanese government will soon be in the Philippines. Using what is called the Thermotron, millions of our suffering cancer-stricken countrymen can also avail of the benefits of what, in Sugahara’s words, their country’s abundant clinical experiences in cancer accumulated through the years.

(Dr. Ronald Antonio R. Santos, FEU Department of Medicine.)