Scientists think that heat may help shrink tumors by damaging cells or depriving them of substances they need to live. They are studying local, regional, and whole-body hyperthermia, using external and internal heating devices.
Local hyperthermia refers to heat that is applied to a very small area, such as a tumor.
The area may be heated externally with high-frequency waves aimed at a tumor from a device outside the body. In regional hyperthermia, an organ or a limb is heated. Magnets and devices that produce high energy are placed over the region to be heated. Whole-body heating is used to treat metastatic cancer that has spread throughout the body. Hyperthermia does not cause any marked increase in radiation side effects or complications.