[Recent progress of thermoradiotherapy in cancer therapy]

The recent progress of thermoradiotherapy for cancer is reviewed. Several biological methods for increasing the effects of heat on tumors have been developed, and some of them are being clinically investigated. Physical progress includes two new heating devices developed in Japan. One is an ultrasound heating system and the other is an intracavitary RF heating applicator in which simultaneous intracavitary irradiation is possible. The negative results of RTOG trial in USA caused a great impact in clinical hyperthermia. Careful analysis of this trial, however, demonstrated the advantages of the use of hyperthermia for those cases in which ther was good quality assurance of hyperthermia. Recent results of ESHO trials in Europe clearly demonstrated the superiority of thermoradiotherapy over radiotherapy alone for several tumors. Various site-specific clinical trials are expected to clarify the indications of thermoradiotherapy in future.