onkommon.com
Local therapy
Regional hyperthermia
Warming a tumour to make radiation or chemotherapy work better, with honest limits about the evidence.
Referral & opinion only
What it is
Tissue is heated to roughly 40–43°C alongside radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Heat impairs the tumour's ability to repair the damage those treatments cause, and improves blood flow and oxygenation, which makes radiation more effective.
The evidence is real but narrow: cervical cancer with radiotherapy, some sarcomas, recurrent breast cancer on the chest wall. It is widely marketed well beyond that. We will tell you which category your situation falls in.
When it is used
- Locally advanced cervical cancer alongside radiotherapy
- Selected soft-tissue sarcoma protocols
- Recurrent chest-wall disease
- Where a specific protocol supports it, not as a general add-on
How the decision is made
- Whether there is trial evidence for this in your specific disease, or only in a different one.
- Whether the machine and protocol available locally match the one the evidence was generated with.
- What is being added to and what it costs, in money and in extra visits.
Opinion and referral only. We do not operate a hyperthermia unit and will say plainly when the evidence does not support it.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- An honest evidence review for your specific indication
- A written statement of what is and is not supported
- Referral where a protocol genuinely applies
Performed and billed elsewhere
- The hyperthermia sessions themselves
- Surface burns and discomfort are the common adverse effects. If a centre promises hyperthermia as a stand-alone cancer treatment, that claim is not supported.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- Is there trial evidence for this in my cancer, specifically?
- What is it being added to?
- How many extra visits and what will it cost in total?
- What happens if I skip it?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Not sure this is the right option for you?
That is exactly what a second opinion is for. Bring what you have, we will tell you what is missing and what the alternatives actually are, in writing.