Treating breast cancer with a type of heat therapy derived from MIT
radar research can significantly increase the effectiveness
of
chemotherapy, according to results from the fourth clinical trial of
the technique reported online Nov. 25 in the journal Cancer Therapy. In
this study, large tumors treated with a combination of chemotherapy
and a focused
microwave heat treatment shrunk nearly 50 percent more
than tumors treated with chemotherapy alone. The microwave treatment is
based on technology originally developed at MIT in the late 1980s as a
tool for missile detection. According to the National Cancer Institute,
some 178,000 women and
2,000 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. An estimated
40,000 women and 450 men will die of the disease this year. In
the latest clinical trial, fifteen patients received two microwave heat
treatments, known as thermotherapy, along with four rounds of
chemotherapy before surgery. The goal was to shrink tumors sufficiently
to enable a breast-conserving lumpectomy procedure instead of the
expected, and more invasive, mastectomy. Surgeons concluded that
fourteen of the tumors shrunk enough for this to be possible. The
microwaves, delivered by two applicators placed near the breast,
kill the cancerous tissue while preserving normal breast tissue by
targeting tumor cells that contain high amounts of both water and ions,
Fenn explained. When the microwave energy passes through the tumor, the
water molecules begin to vibrate and generate heat through friction.
This process eventually elevates the cancer cells to a "high fever" of
at least 108 degrees Fahrenheit in most cases, killing them.