Battling cancer: the latest on microwave hyperthermia

Hyperthermia is a procedure for treating cancer in which the tissue temperatures in the tumor are raised to the range of 42-45 °C (Lin, 2004). Microwave hyperthermia was introduced several decades ago (see, for example, Paglione\´s U.S. patent (1980) and the references cited therein). It has been used generally in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy because hyperthermia enhances the tumor\´s response to radio/chemotherapy. A recent example of experimental research on microwave hyperthermia is the work by Maccarini et al., presented in the technical session "Biological Effects and Medical Applications" at IMS 2005.