Thermal therapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer
In a previous blog post, we have talked about the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
In about half of the cases, conventional treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy reduce symptoms of pancreatic cancer. However, these treatments often have little impact on the patient’s long-term survival.
Thermal therapy is another treatment option for pancreatic cancer.
Thermal therapy is effective because cancer cells have poor resistance to heat.
Thermal therapy has multiple effectiveness pathways:
Thermal therapy is usually administered in combination with other treatment methods and renders cancer cells more sensitive to the treatment, thereby increasing its chance of success.
Thermal therapy can either be administered locally at the tumor, or systemically throughout the body. The latter option is particularly useful in metastatic cancer.
The treatment developed by ElmediX consists of heating the entire body of the patient, under anesthesia, using very advanced equipment to exactly 41.5 degrees. The treatment at 41.5 degree currently takes at least two hours and is repeated a number of times.
Thermal therapy can be used for most types of cancer, but our initial focus is on pancreatic cancer. The reason for this is that pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at a very late stage, when the patient already has metastases. Our therapy is suitable for this stage of cancer.
ElmediX strives to extend the lives of cancer patients worldwide and to improve their quality of life. Initially, our focus is on pancreatic cancer, but other cancer types are also being investigated.