Radiofrequency capacitive hyperthermia for deep-seated tumors: I. Thermometry

The thermometry results of regional hyperthermia with RF capacitive heating equipments were analyzed for 60 deep-seated tumors in 59 patients. Intratumor temperatures were measured by thermocouples inserted through angiocatheters which were placed 5-12cm in depth of the tissues. Thermal distributions within tumors and surrounding normal tissues were obtained for 53 tumors by moving thermocouples. The advantages of deep RF capacitive heating are its applicability to various anatomical sites and negligible systemic effects. The disadvantages are its primary usefulness is limited to patients with thin subcutaneous fat and with large or hypovascular tumors, and difficulty in raising the whole tumor volume temperature over 420C