Alternative Breast Cancer Treatments: Heat Therapy

By Gina Lawson

After my reoccurrence, and I switched hospitals, I was given the recommendation and opportunity by my Oncology team to try an add-on treatment to my cancer regime called Heat Therapy. Heat therapy, also known as hyperthermia or thermal therapy, is a treatment approach that involves exposing body tissue to high temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells or to make them more susceptible to other forms of treatment like radiation and chemotherapy. They suggested this treatment because it has shown great benefits, such as enhanced treatment efficacy. By making cancer cells more susceptible to radiation and chemotherapy, heat therapy can enhance the overall effectiveness of these treatments and potentially reduce tumor size. Heat therapy can shrink tumors, making them easier to remove surgically or to treat with other methods.

In my case, they filled a large bolus (or a type of water balloon) with water and heated it to a certain degree and would place it on and around my bare skin where the tumor was located. I would lay down on a bed and the technician would adjust the balloon on my skin as needed, because the temperature can become very hot and it can feel uncomfortable at times so they would move it around for my comfort. The heat would have to reach a therapeutic temperature to treat the cancer cells, which is typically 40°C to 45°C (104°F to 113°F). This temperature range is carefully controlled. 

Heat therapy is often used in combination with other treatments. For example, it may be combined with radiation therapy to improve outcomes in locally advanced or recurrent breast cancer. It can also be used to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life in patients with advanced breast cancer. In my case, it would used in conjunction with proton therapy and chemotherapy. I would get it once a day, everyday for 5-6 weeks either before or after my proton therapy treatments. The sessions would last about an hour each. 

I found out the treatment is also used for other cancers as well, such as cervical, and prostate. The statistics are as follows: 

1. Breast Cancer: • Locally Advanced Breast Cancer: A study published in the International Journal of Hyperthermia reported that adding hyperthermia to radiation therapy for locally advanced or recurrent breast cancer resulted in improved local control and survival rates. Specifically, the 5-year local control rate increased from 41% (radiation alone) to 59% (radiation plus hyperthermia). 

2. Recurrent Breast Cancer: • A Phase III clinical trial found that hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy (especially with drugs like paclitaxel) showed higher response rates compared to chemotherapy alone. The overall response rate was significantly higher in the group receiving hyperthermia (66%) compared to the chemotherapy-only group (42%). 

3. Soft Tissue Sarcomas: • Hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy improved overall survival and local progression-free survival in patients with high-risk soft tissue sarcomas, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

I believe it was helpful in my case and I am thankful it was available and recommended to me by my doctors at University of Maryland Medical Center.