| abstract |
Improvements in safety and efficacy for externally focused adaptive phased array microwave thermotherapy (hyperthermia) for treatment of cancer and benign conditions of an organ or an appendage are described. In order to reduce blood flow thereby accumulating additional equivalent thermal dose following the step of heating an organ or appendage by irradiating microwaves at the organ or appendage, the step of compressing the organ or appendage following the heating step is added to thermotherapy treatment. In a preferred embodiment, the organ is the prostate and periodic prostate compression is employed to reduce the prostate blood flow thereby allowing chemotherapy, thermosensitive liposome-encapsulated chemotherapy, or gene therapy to accumulate in the prostate region during thermotherapy. Doppler ultrasound imaging may be used to measure tumor blood flow rate and then serve as real-time feedback to assist in adjusting the amount of balloon catheter inflation and to assess damage to the tumor vasculature during the treatment. |