Surface hyperthermia guided by infrared image and re-irradiation of local relapses of breast cancer

As the taking into care of local relapses of cancer breast after a conventional treatment remains a challenge, the authors report the exploration of the use of a re-irradiation combined with hyperthermia. As disappointing results obtained with surface hyperthermia are attributed to some technical problems, they use a high resolution infrared image to get a better temperature distribution and to be able to adapt heat application to the dynamic changes of the tumour and of normal tissues, and to improve the hyperthermia quality. Preliminary results obtained on five patients are discussed and seem promising. It provides a better therapeutic efficiency, and gives access to information related to the tumour response, to inflammatory processes, to the vascularisation of healthy tissues, and to radio-induced reactions. Short communication