Whole-body hyperthermia
Using the effects of heat to stimulate the immune system
Using whole-body hyperthermia essentially mimics a fever, as occurs when infected with infectious diseases. Studies and evidence show that therapeutic hyperthermia, used in the treatment of oncological and other chronic diseases, is effective and yields good results. During this procedure, metabolic activity is activated, blood circulation improves, and organ perfusion increases. When the body’s core temperature rises, it affects the functioning of hormonal and immune systems. Research and data compilations demonstrate that the use of hyperthermia alongside other treatment methods produces positive outcomes. The “German Hyperthermia Society” has developed guidelines based on scientific research and past experience.
| Moderately elevated body temperature | Moderately high body temperature | Extremely high body temperature | |||
| 38,5o C – 40,5 o C | >40,5 o C | ||||
| Duration of procedure | ≤ 30 min. | >30 min. | ≤180 min. | >180 min. | Overall 60 min. |
| Manifestations and necessary preparation | Sweating; No thermoregulatory stress | Sweating; No thermoregulatory stress | Thermoregulatory stress; Mild delay | Thermoregulatory stress; Mild or moderate delay | Thermoregulatory stress; Deep i/v or general anesthesia |
| Patient monitoring | Without medical nurse supervision | Under the supervision of a medical nurse, monitoring axillary, rectal, sublingual, or tympanic temperature | Under the supervision of a doctor and medical nurse, monitoring axillary and rectal temperature, SpO2, HR, EKG. Episodic BP control | Under the supervision of a doctor and medical nurse, monitoring axillary and rectal temperature, SpO2, HR, EKG. Episodic BP control | Full medical supervision; Monitoring as ITN. |
| Indications | Relaxation; Well-being | Rehabilitation; Physical therapy; Rheumatology; Orthopedics. | Rheumatology; Dermatology; Oncology; Psychiatry; Immunology; | Oncology; Chronic infections. | Oncology; Chronic infections |
| Manufacturer requirements | CE (EU) marking and indication that the medical device has been tested and monitored by a manufacturer specialist. | ||||
Therapeutic hyperthermia indications include:
- Muscle dystonia, soft tissue rheumatic diseases, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, post-trauma consequences.
- Bronchial asthma, chronic lung diseases, emphysema.
- All types of chronic inflammatory processes – colitis, sinusitis, arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc.
- Patients after complex oncological therapy.
- Febrile temperature improves and activates the immune system in oncological patients.
- Febrile temperature also enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy and the effects of radiation therapy.
- Oncological patients often experience thermoregulation disorders, and whole-body hyperthermia can regulate them.
- Whole-body hyperthermia is also beneficial for high-risk patients suspected of having cancer.
This procedure also helps treat chronic skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, etc.
Undesirable side effects:
The most common adverse effects include weakness, malaise, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Often, there may also be effects on the cardiovascular system such as palpitations, chest discomfort, and collapse. Heat shock most commonly causes weakness, dizziness, and headaches. Typically, elevated body temperature persists for at least 1-2 hours after the procedure, occasionally longer. If a patient with chronic inflammation undergoes whole-body hyperthermia, exacerbation of the chronic disease may be observed in the first few days after the procedure, lasting for a few hours, such as intensified pain. Prognostically, this is a good symptom.
Complications of therapeutic hyperthermia:
The most frequently observed complications of therapeutic hyperthermia are mild-degree local skin burns with redness or ulcers, discomfort, and/or pain. Improved local blood flow may lead to slight swelling, rarely thrombus formation in blood vessels, or increased bleeding if there are wounds on the body. From the general symptomatology induced by heat, diarrhea, dizziness, weakness, nausea, and vomiting may occur.
Physiological effects of therapeutic hyperthermia:
- Elevated body temperature accelerates and promotes all biochemical metabolic processes (Hoff’s law), thus significantly facilitating detoxification processes throughout the body.
- Cell membrane permeability to water, oxygen, nutrients, and medications is increased.
- Promotes recovery and regeneration processes.
- Improves blood circulation throughout the body, thereby promoting blood circulation in tissues and organs, dilating congested blood vessels, and improving collateral circulation.
- Reduces smooth and skeletal muscle tone, promoting relaxation.
- Enhances the conduction velocity of impulses in nerve fibers.
- Activates subacute and chronic inflammatory processes to promote healing.
- Immunomodulatory effect on the immune system.
Treatment course and protocols:
- Depending on the nature of health issues and their severity, therapeutic hyperthermia is recommended to be performed at least 3 times, but ideally repeated from 6 to 12 times.
- The intervals between treatment courses depend on the patient’s well-being, but it is recommended to have intervals ranging from one to 7 days.
- As needed and indicated, the procedure can be repeated several times, but it is recommended to have intervals between therapeutic courses of 2 to 3 months.
History of Therapeutic Hyperthermia
Another effective method utilizing the effects of heat is whole-body hyperthermia, during which the body’s temperature is moderately elevated from 39°C to 41°C (102–105°F). The founder and improver of this treatment method was the American surgeon William B. Coley (1862–1936) from New York. In 1883, he treated a 19-year-old patient with cancer by inducing fever in the body through injections of a mixture consisting of two different strains of bacteria – Streptococcus pyogenes and Serratia marcescens. His patient, a young man diagnosed with sarcoma (an aggressive soft tissue tumor) in the anterior abdominal wall, which had already invaded the bladder and caused urinary incontinence, had a tumor mass of 13 x 16 cm. Due to the severity of the condition, the young man was bedridden and in poor health. Each injection, containing the aforementioned bacteria, rapidly raised the body temperature above 40°C. After 4 months, William B. Coley observed regression of the tumor, and the disease went into complete remission. The patient never experienced a tumor recurrence afterward and died 26 years later from a myocardial infarction. This miraculous case, documented in detail by William B. Coley’s niece, Helen Coley Nauts, was the subject of scientific discussion at the time. William B. Coley treated approximately one thousand patients with hyperthermia and documented all of them in his publications. Shortly before his death, this American surgeon diligently worked to publish his handbook on fever therapy, but unfortunately, the book was never completed or published. William B. Coley used a bacterial mixture to induce fever in his patients for hyperthermia therapy at a time when effective antipyretics were not available. Remission of the oncological process was achieved in more than 50% of his more than 1000 patients. It is strange that a method that has been so effective in cancer treatment has received too little attention. This cancer treatment method was even banned in many parts of the world for many years, only to be later recognized as outdated and dangerous to health, replacing it with modern chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery.
In Germany, after World War II, the so-called passive form of therapeutic hyperthermia began to be used. Two German researchers – radiologist Martin Heckel (1926–2007) from Stuttgart and Manfred von Ardenne (1907–1997) – a scientist from Dresden, are considered the pioneers of this treatment method. Martin Heckel, who suffered from serious sequelae of poliomyelitis during his lifetime, began to improve his health using a whole-body hyperthermia infrared sauna, the device of which was constructed in 1950. Over time, his muscle pain and movement problems diminished, and in 1960, he presented his invention of the infrared sauna to a German radiotherapy journal, “Strahlentherapie.” In 1971, Martin Heckel already had his hyperthermia therapy center, where he mainly treated patients with skeletal-muscle diseases, chronic inflammation, and cancer.
Manfred von Ardenne was an outstanding scientist with remarkable intellectual abilities from a young age, who patented his new device in electrical engineering at the age of 16. During his lifetime, he developed more than 600 different electrical devices, including the first television in 1930 and a scanning electron microscope in 1937. After spending decades working on electrical devices and nuclear physics research, Ardenne decided to engage in cancer research and began collaborating with Otto Warburg, the founder and director of the Wilhelm Kaiser Institute in Berlin, who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1931.
He developed the first whole-body hyperthermia device that used far-infrared A waves filtered through water, which could penetrate deep into the body’s tissues, warming them without causing painful skin burns. Manfred von Ardenne was the first to use this device, conduct systematic studies, and use it directly for disease treatment. His treatment methods in Germany generated significant interest and began to be used in several clinical university hospitals in Dresden and Greifswald. In the early 1970s, whole-body hyperthermia as a treatment method was also used in the hospital in Friedrichshafen. Plans were even made to establish a hyperthermia research institute there, but its operation was occasionally disrupted and prohibited by employees of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, who preferred chemotherapy for treatment.
Politics, money, and power disrupted further plans for the development of whole-body hyperthermia in Germany. Nevertheless, in some clinics, Ardennes’ hyperthermia device was still used, and patients also received oxygen through nasal cannulas and intravenously received various biological anticancer agents, as well as high doses of vitamin C. Oxygen inhalation is also one of Ardenne’s recommendations in multi-stage cancer treatment protocols, which makes tumor cells much more sensitive to administered drugs and strengthens the entire body while receiving sufficient oxygen.
The detoxifying effect of hyperthermia should also not be underestimated, although it is not scientifically proven and researched at the moment. During whole-body hyperthermia, the patient experiences profuse sweating, losing from a few hundred milliliters to up to 1 liter, so efforts should be made to compensate for it with the amount of water taken and introduced into the body. Proper administration of therapeutic fluids during the procedure ensures the patient’s well-being afterward.