[Total-body hyperthermia and combined anticancer chemotherapy]

The present status of extracorporeally induced total-body hyperthermia (TBHT) for far-advanced cancer was presented from data collected from Japanese patients given this treatment. TBHT was most effective in lung cancer. In analyzing the anticancer effects of TBHT according to cancer site, the highest efficacy was observed in patients with their main cancer in the lung or liver, irrespective of whether tumorigenesis was primary or secondary. The anticancer effects were more enhanced when TBHT was combined with dosage of cis-DDP. What is important in combined chemotherapy is to determine what agent(s) should be applied and when. The most useful method for examining the thermosensitivity and thermochemosensitivity of agents for drug selection was the human tumor stem cell assay using individual cancer cells. Further, the usefulness of angiotensin II-induced hypertensive chemotherapy during TBHT in augmenting selective drug delivery to tumors was stressed.