Message from the Presidents
"The Heat is on in Cancer Therapy"
It is our great pleasure to invite you to contribute to the future of hyperthermia in cancer treatment. Never before were the prospects of hyperthermia as promising as today. The recent progress made in biology, physics and clinical studies is revitalizing the interest in hyperthermia for multimodal cancer treatment. The combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy but also with nanotechnology opens the field for hyperthermia as a targeted treatment strategy.
Since the early days the challenges of the clinical application of hyperthermia have been addressed in many technological research programs. As a result new hyperthermia devices have been designed and constructed. At present advanced multi-element heating devices are available using either ultrasound or electromagnetic fields to heat tumors either very precisely to high temperatures as required in thermal ablation or for prolonged time at more moderate temperatures as needed in hyperthermia. Non-invasive thermometry by MRI is currently introduced for on-line optimization of the temperature distribution and thermal dose during treatment.
Most importantly, the advanced hyperthermia technology together with tight quality assurance protocols, have paid off and brought us several phase III trials with the expected positive clinical results. From 1994 and onwards the enormous benefit of combining radiotherapy and hyperthermia was demonstrated in the treatment of various advanced tumors (melanoma, breast recurrences, head and neck, cervix, bladder). In 2005 the results of the ESHO phase III trial for recurrent breast cancer were replicated in the STM phase III trial for superficial tumors. Both trials showed that radiotherapy plus hyperthermia results in at least a doubling of the complete response rate. At the ASCO 2007, the potential role of combining chemotherapy with hyperthermia received special attention. During the plenary closing the doubling of the disease free survival time after chemotherapy plus hyperthermia as demonstrated in a large phase III trial on advanced soft tissue sarcoma, were highlighted.
After many years of devoted research the hyperthermia society can now proudly announce that:
- Adding hyperthermia improves clinical outcome as shown in phase III trials.
- Hyperthermia is recognized as part of standard treatment protocols and reimbursed in several leading countries.
- Innovative hyperthermia systems and or thermal ablations systems are available to adequately heat or ablate tumors at various locations in the body.
- Advanced treatment planning systems provide the ability to a-priori assess the quality of the hyperthermia treatment.
- Hyperthermia has specific and high potentials for the advancement of thermosensitive liposomes with the aim to arrive at targeted therapy with drugs.
In this prospectus you can read how your company can participate in the ICHO 2008, which will take place at the Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich Germany.
Rolf D. Issels President ESHO |
Prof. P.R. Stauffer President STM |
Prof. T. Ohnishi President ASHO |
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