Hyperthermia in cancer treatment.

Hyperthermia, used as an adjunct to radiation therapy, can increase tumor regression significantly. When used as a local (as opposed to regional or systemic) modality, proper treatment requires detailed knowledge of tumor and normal tissue geometry, and physiologic parameters such as perfusion and thermal conductivity. A brief review of local heating techniques and details of two techniques used to treat brain tumors are provided: Scan Focused Ultrasound and Interstitial Ferromagnetic Seed Implants. These techniques require the most sophisticated use of diagnostic radiology methods. Data from several modalities such as CT, MRI, angiography, and xenon CT perfusion studies must be merged into a consistent data set. This data set must be indexed precisely relative to the treatment apparatus. Real-time noninvasive temperature monitoring of the treatment field has not been achieved at this time, but is of interest to researchers in hyperthermia.