How does hyperthermia kill

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Access to Experimental Drugs. Hyperthermia to Treat Cancer. Credit: National Cancer Institute. These techniques include: probes that make energy from microwaves radio waves also called radiofrequency lasers ultrasound heating fluids such as blood or chemotherapy drugs and putting them into the body called perfusion placing the entire body in a heated chamber or hot water bath or wrapping with heated blankets.

It has been used to treat these types of advanced cancers: appendix cancer bladder brain cancer breast cervical cancer esophageal cancer head and neck cancer liver lung cancer melanoma mesothelioma sarcoma rectal cancer. In hyperthermia, heat is used to help damage and kill cancer cells. In local hyperthermia , doctors apply heat to a small area. The type of local hyperthermia used depends on where the tumor is located.

For instance: External hyperthermia is used to treat tumors that are on or just below the skin. For this type of hyperthermia, doctors place devices that create heat around or near the treatment area. Intraluminal or endocavitary hyperthermia is used to treat tumors within or near body cavities, such as the esophagus or rectum.

In this type of hyperthermia, doctors place probes that create heat inside the cavity and insert them into the tumor. Interstitial hyperthermia is used to treat tumors deep within the body, such as in the brain. This type of hyperthermia allows the tumor to be heated to higher temperatures than external techniques. The doctor will insert probes or needles into your tumor while you are under anesthesia. Imaging techniques, such as ultrasound , may be used to help make sure the probe is in the right place.

The heat source is then inserted into the probe. Current studies are looking at how it might work to treat many types of cancer, including the following:. The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team. Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

Alexander HR Jr. Isolation Perfusion. Cancer Principles and Practice of Oncology , 8th edition. Sarcomas of Soft Tissue.

Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone: Sarcomas of the soft tissue and bone. Fever-range whole-body thermal therapy combined with cisplatin, gemcitabine, and daily interferon-alpha: a description of a phase I-II protocol. Int J Hyperthermia.

Dariush S, Nicolae V. Oner Ozdemir Ed. Cancer Medicine. Isolated limb perfusion with hyperthermia and chemotherapy: predictive factors for regional toxicity. Clinics Sao Paulo. Gillams A. Tumour ablation: current role in the liver, kidney, lung and bone. Cancer Imaging. Principles and Practice of Surgical Oncology. National Cancer Institute, Clinical Trials. Hyperthermia search. Accessed at www. National Cancer Institute. Hyperthermia in Cancer Treatment: Questions and Answers.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Hyperthermia: Using Heat to Treat Cancer. NIH Clinical Center. Radiofrequency Thermal Ablation as Tumor Therapy. The role of hyperthermia in the battle against cancer. Effect of preoperative fever-range whole-body hyperthermia on immunological markers in patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery.

Crandall is also a director of the thermal and vascular physiology laboratory at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. The resulting cascade of events, then, "greatly affect the central nervous system, the brain, and ultimately the organs. The brain swells, individual brain cells stop working and since it is their job to communicate throughout the system, "the organs stop receiving the appropriate information from the brain.

In addition, inflammation can begin affecting brain function and nerve function, said Crandall. Cytotoxins -- cytokines is the formal term -- are released throughout the body due to heat stress and these are detrimental to organ function. This occurs because the blood vessels are massively dilated and pressure is reduced. That can be a big problem," Crandall said. The oxygen and nutrients are necessary food for the body and its organs, including the brain.

What are the warning signs and symptoms of heat illness? The warning signs of impending heat illness include high body temperature, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hot, red, dry, or damp skin and a fast strong pulse are also warning signs, the CDC warns. Deadly heat waves becoming more common due to climate change. Symptoms might include headache, feeling dizzy, nausea, feeling confused and losing consciousness passing out. Muscle cells break down, spilling their contents into the bloodstream and overloading the kidneys, which in turn start to fail, a condition called rhabdomyolysis.

Proteins in the spleen start to clump as a direct result of heat; they're essentially cooked. The blood-brain barrier that normally keeps pathogens out of the brain becomes more permeable, allowing dangerous substances into the brain. Autopsies of people killed by heat stroke often reveal microhemorrhages tiny strokes and swelling, and 30 percent of heat stroke survivors experience permanent damage in brain function, according to Wilderness Medicine.

Heat exhaustion requires immediate medical treatment and rapid cooling. In the case of a hiker on a trail, there may not be time to get to a spot that's cool enough to reverse the damage.

Similarly, people who live in urban areas and lack air conditioning may end up disabled in their own homes, unable to get help before they die from heat stroke. The elderly and those with chronic medical conditions have more difficulty regulating their body temperatures than those in midlife, Keller said, and medications for some chronic diseases can make the problem worse. Likewise, the signals between body and brain that make people feel thirsty may not function as well in old age. Babies and young children also have more difficulty regulating their temperature than people in the prime of life.

The elderly, neurologically disabled and mentally ill also tend to be more socially isolated than their younger, healthier counterparts. In France in , the heat hit in August, when many Europeans go on vacation.

Elderly people found themselves in mostly empty apartment buildings when the heat crisis reached them. Some were found dead with their doors ajar, Keller said, suggesting that they were trying to get out and get help when they collapsed.