Investigators Report Encouraging Results from Thermotherapy Trial

Investigators continue to report encouraging results from Phase II clinical trials of a treatment, based on MIT radar research, that focuses microwave radiation externally on the breast to heat and kill cancer cells hiding inside.

Because of higher water and ion contents, breast cancer cells absorb two to four times more microwave energy than healthy tissue, destroying the cancer.

"The adaptively focused microwave radiation used in the technique avoids heating the skin, and selectively heats -- and kills -- cancer cells spread within a large region of the breast," said the technology's investor, Dr. Alan J. Fenn of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

"After thermotherapy treatment, we are seeing significant breast cancer cell kill without damage to the skin," said Dr. Robert A. Gardner, breast surgeon at Columbia Hospital's Center for Breast Care in West Palm Beach, Florida, one of three hospitals involved in the trials.

A second Phase II study of 90 patients with locally advanced breast cancer is slated to begin this month at Columbia Hospital and Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany, and is expected to be completed in 2002.

The goal of this study is to more effectively destroy breast cancer cells and shrink tumors to decrease the need for mastectomy. Results of the study were presented at the 24th International Congress on Clinical Hyperthermia in Rome, Italy.

Other Sources: MIT