Hyperthermia and reirradiation

Abstract

Quality-assured local and regional hyperthermia procedures have been proven to enhance the clinical benefits of oncological standard treatments in several clinical settings without a substantial increase of late toxicity. This makes hyperthermia an attractive sensitizer for both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It is no longer the question whether hyperthermia is an effective oncological treatment at all. Currently, the question is which patient, which tumor entity, and which clinical stage of disease benefit most from additional hyperthermia as integral part of current multimodality oncological standard treatment schedules. This remains particularly true for patients with recurrent malignant diseases and a previous irradiation series in the involved area.