Hyperthermia is a procedure in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures (up to 42ºC and above). It was first used by medical practitioners in Ancient India during the 19th century. It is a type of medical treatment in which body tissue is exposed to higher temperatures in order to treat Lyme disease or cancer.
Bodysuit worn during hyperthermia therapy
It is under investigation to assess its effectiveness in the treatment of cancer. Hyperthermia has become the chosen treatment for some important physiotherapeutic pathologies of the muscle-tendon apparatus, and it also plays a big role in integrating with other methods in the rehabilitating programs. Scientists believe that heat may help shrink tumors by damaging cells or depriving them of substances they need to live. They are studying local, regional, and whole-body hyperthermia, using external and internal heating devices. Hyperthermia is almost always used with other forms of therapy (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, biological therapy, and soon magnetic therapy) in an attempt to increase their effectiveness.
One of the challenges in hyperthermia therapy is controlling the temperature, meaning delivering the appropriate amount of heat to the correct part of the patient's body can be difficult as many things can go wrong. For this technique to be effective, the temperatures must be high enough, and the temperatures must be sustained long enough, to damage or kill the cancer cells. However, if the temperatures are too high, or if they are kept elevated for too long, then serious side effects, including death, can result. The smaller the place that is heated, and the shorter the treatment time, the lower the side effects. Conversely, tumor treated too slowly or at too low a temperature will not achieve therapeutic goals. The usage of heating power as a healing system has been well-known for a long time. But it came up as a challenge when heat treating was recognized as a new and promising form of cancer therapy. It was found that cancer growth was stopped at a temperature higher than about 42 C. Because of this challenge, it created a new subject of research in the area of application of electromagnetic fields in medicine.
Magnetic Hyperthermia
Among hyperthermia therapy methods, magnetic hyperthermia is well known as the one that produces a controllable heat inside the body. Because of using magnetic fluid in this method, temperature distribution can be controlled by the velocity, size of nanoparticles and distribution of them inside the body. These materials upon application of external, alternating magnetic field convert electromagnetic energy into thermal energy and induce temperature rises. This explains how electromagnets are used in hyperthermia therapy.
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