RF Energy and Chemotherapy Kill Breast Tumors

A new therapy administered before surgery that combines radio frequency (RF) energy and chemotherapy for women with breast cancers categorized as inflammatory or locally advanced has halted tumor growth in all 21 subjects and has at least partially shrunk tumors in half of the subjects. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando (FL, USA).

Inflammatory or locally advanced tumors often resist traditional treatments, and 60-70% of victims do not survive beyond five years. The new therapy was especially developed for such patients by researchers at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Duke University (Durham, NC, USA). The treatment combines several elements. One is chemotherapy encapsulated in liposomes, which allows delivery of 30 times more medication without poisoning the rest of the body. Following the infusion of chemotherapy, patients lie on a massage-like table for one hour as RF energy warms their breasts, which lie in a sunken pool of water. The heat triggers the chemotherapy to settle inside the tumor, where it trickles out of its protective coating to attack the tumor. The water helps to distribute the heat evenly around the breast to avoid burning and helps direct the RF energy into the breast.

These hyperthermia treatments are given every three weeks for four cycles. After the fourth and final treatment, radiation oncologists measure the tumor shrinkage and recommend the least invasive surgery to remove the tumors. Surgery is then followed by additional chemotherapy and radiation to kill any undetected remaining cells. Results show that 11% of the women in the trial had complete pathologic responses, with no cancer found in the breast tissue when its surgical remains were analyzed, while 33% had complete clinical responses, with no visible signs of a tumor, and 17% were converted from mastectomy candidates to lumpectomy candidates. Moreover, tumor growth was halted in all the women.

"We use the best and newest agents up front, then the standard and traditional treatments at the tail end,” said Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., a Duke medical oncologist. "It's like a guarantee policy to ensure that the patients receive every possible benefit we have to offer them.”




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