More people die of lung cancer in Kentucky than in any other state in the U.S., so it makes sense that a new study to help patients in the late stages of the disease is being done in the Commonwealth. Doctors at the University of Kentucky are currently studying the benefits of whole-body hyperthermia in treating lung cancer.
Thermal therapy, also known as hyperthermia, uses elevated temperatures to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors with little to no damage to healthy cells. It’s also been shown to make cancer cells more vulnerable to traditional treatments like chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
“The concept of using heat to treat cancer is not that new,” says Dr. Jeremiah Martin, a doctor with the university’s Albert B. Chandler Hospital, where the study is being conducted. To date, most thermal therapies have been used in finite areas of the body, like a limb or a very specific region of the body, however. Heat can be applied externally to treat tumors that are just below the skin, or internally to treat tumors deep within the body.
The new study will entail warming the entire body, overcoming the body’s ability to regulate its temperature. Previous UK research has identified a specific temperature and time window for the desired result in killing cancer cells – 108 degrees for two hours.
“We can specifically target cancer cells that way,” Martin explains.
“Cancer cells are by their nature not normal. They don’t have the normal protection mechanisms, they’re unstable and their DNA is already damaged, so if you push them to this higher temperature, they become even more damaged and can’t repair themselves, while the rest of the cells recover just fine.
“It’s possible that down the line it could become a cycled therapy, like chemotherapy, but even though this treatment has great potential, we have to maintain that standard of care,” Martin explains.
