title: Early report of correlation between the thermal dosage and the treatment effect of hyperthermia in combination with chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is known to be difficult to determine thermal dosage in clinical tumor treatment. The aim of this study is to examine whether the quantitative heating dose reflects the treatment effect in esophageal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hyperthermo-chemoradiotherapy was performed on 14 patients with advanced esophageal cancer. The heating dosage was calculated as an integration of the isoeffective dose at 43 degrees C using the following formulas: delta teq(T) = 2(T-43).delta t (second)--(a) (> or = 42.5 degrees C) delta teq(T) = 2(42.5-43).6(T-42.5).delta t (second)--(b) (< 42.5 degrees C) When hyperthermia continued at the same temperature for 2 seconds or more, the temperature was regarded as the heating temperature, and the cumulative time was defined as the thermal dose which was administered during the heating period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine patients were resectable and the remaining 5 patients were categorized as non-resectable. The treatment effect was evaluated by an esophagram and an endoscopic examination both pre- and post-hyperthermo-chemoradiotherapy. Five patients were regarded to demonstrate a complete response, while 2 showed a partial response and 8 demonstrated no change, respectively. The maximal cumulative heating time was 2,312 seconds in the complete response group, 1,811 seconds in the partial response group and 1,260 seconds in the no change group (p = 0.038). The minimal and average cumulative heating time did not show any correlation with the treatment effect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that the thermal doses calculated by those formulas were adequate for clinical hyperthermia in esophageal cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Science (Department of Surgery II), Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. kao@surg2.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Yasue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saeki
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maehara
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimachi
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D011859:Radiography; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002945:Cisplatin