The next generation of oncological hyperthermia involves the medical innovation of selectively heating up the malignant cells of the body in a controlled way. The easily-distinguishable biophysical and physiological characteristics of cancer cells and their immediate environment are the focus of the targeted energy delivery of this treatment. This heterogenic heating concept breaks with the homogeneous nature of conventional hyperthermia, where an isothermally equal temperature is applied to the large surface area of a solid tumor. Due to its selectivity, the new concept enables the usage of a significantly lower energy, making it safer, less toxic, and easier to use. This book shows the challenges facing oncological hyperthermia, and highlights clinical results obtained in various countries. It also presents discussions about the theoretical basis of the method, adding some technical discussions and clarifying the most difficult points of its design. The contributions dealing with clinical results use state-of-art conventional therapies with complementary hyperthermia and show the advantages of such a combination.

Oncothermia is the next generation medical innovation that delivers selective, controlled and deep energy for cancer treatment. The basic principles for oncothermia stem from oncological hyperthermia, the oldest approach to treating cancer. Nevertheless, hyperthermia has been wrought with significant controversy, mostly stemming from shortcomings of controlled energy delivery. Oncothermia has been able to overcome these insufficiencies and prove to be a controlled, safe and efficacious treatment option. This book is the first attempt to elucidate the theory and practice of oncothermia, based on rigorous mathematical and biophysical analysis, not centered on the temperature increase. It is supported by numerous in-vitro and in-vivo findings and twenty years of clinical experience. This book will help scientists, researchers and medical practitioners in understanding the scientific and conceptual underpinnings of oncothermia and will add another valuable tool in the fight against cancer. Professor Andras Szasz is the inventor of oncothermia and the Head of St Istvan University's Biotechnics Department in Hungary. He has published over 300 papers and lectured at various universities around the world. Dr. Oliver Szasz is the managing director of Oncotherm, the global manufacturer and distributor of medical devices for cancer treatment used in Europe & Asia since the late 1980s. Dr. Nora Szasz is currently a management consultant in healthcare for McKinsey & Co.

Physicians, biologists and physicists present their recent work in the field of hyperthermia with regard to both its application and its combination with radiation and chemotherapy. Current technical possibilities, clinical management and major aspects of its use for superficial and deep-seated tumors are pointed out. The main topics discussed are: changes of metabolism and microcirculation under heat conditions, the biological interaction of heat with X-rays and several chemotherapeutic agents, and the most recent clinical data from different institutions on the combined application in the treatment of cancer.

The development of equipment capable of producing and monitoring safe, effective and predictable hyperthermia treatments represents a major challenge. The main problem associated with any heating technique is the need to adjust and control the distribution of absorbed power in the tissue during treatment. Power distribution is considered adequate only when tumor tissue can be maintained at the required hyperthermic levels while, at the same time, healthy tissue is not overheated. This problem is particularly crucial when external heating devices are used to produce hyperthermia. Ex ternal hyperthermia refers to those methods which supply heat to tumor tissue in an external, noninvasive manner, as opposed to internal hyperther mia by which heat is supplied to tumor tissue in situ. Until recently, most of the technical developments and clinical trials of ther motherapy for superficial and deep tumors have been based on elec tromagnetic systems. Presently, there is increasing interest in the use of ultra sound to accomplish these goals. Electromagnetic techniques of external thermotherapy include radiative, capacitive, and, to a lesser extent, inductive procedures. Recent designs for radiative applicators have incorporated microstrip structures. These have the advantage of being compact and lightweight compared with dielectrically loaded waveguide applicators.