Heated Chemotherapy for Cancer Increases Survival

Five-year data show that a new procedure called intraperitoneal heated chemotherapy enables patients with abdominal or ovarian cancer to live longer and have a better quality of life. The procedure is based on the finding that cancer cells are sensitive to heat.

After surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, patients are connected to a series of tubes. A pumping device bathes the abdominal cavity for several hours using powerful cancer drugs. This method permits direct contact of very high cancer drug concentrations with the remaining cancer cells. Heating increases the effectiveness of the drugs. Clinical trials are underway.

Investigators at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem, NC, USA) developed the procedure over the last decade. Two years ago, they licensed a company called ViaCirq, a subsidiary of Bico, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), to develop the process further. The result, called the ThermoChem HT System, has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The system heats the abdominal region to a maximum of 109.4o F during treatment.

"Ovarian cancer is an ideal malignancy for this type of treatment since it is typically an intraperitoneal disease for long periods of time,” said Samuel S. Lentz, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, who is directing the research into ovarian cancer at Wake Forest.



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Bico, Inc.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center