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BSD Medical Corporation announced that the German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) has issued a press release titled "Bladder cancer -- save the bladder with radiation and heat therapy.

The primary objective for current bladder cancer treatments is to provide effective treatments that do not require removal of the bladder. The addition of hyperthermia to standard radiotherapy and chemotherapy (radiochemotherapy) improves these treatment results and increases the number of patients who can be effectively treated without removal of the bladder. Prof. Rita Engelhardt-Cabillic, the President of DEGRO, stated, "At the start of radiation therapy, they heat the bladder to 40 to 44 degrees Celsius using microwaves. The heat further increases the effect of the radiochemotherapy."

The press release was issued as a result of a published study that demonstrated an improvement in overall survival, tumor response rates and local tumor control from the addition of hyperthermia therapy delivered using the BSD-2000 Hyperthermia System to the standard treatment regimen. (M. Wittlinger, et al. "Quadrimodal treatment of high-risk T1 and T2 bladder cancer: Transurethral tumor resection followed by concurrent radiochemotherapy and regional deep hyperthermia." Radiotherapy and Oncology, 93, 2009, 358.) The researchers stated that, in comparison to the results of a previous study they had conducted on trimodal treatment alone for bladder cancer patients, the addition of hyperthermia resulted in a higher overall survival rate (82% vs. 67% at five years) as well as local tumor control rate at three years (81% vs. 63%).

Source: BSD Medical Corporation

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