Use of Heat-Sensing Devices in Cancer Therapy

Today's oncologist is often faced with a patient in whom several alternate modalities of treatment are available, of which possibly only one will give a therapeutic response. In recent years various investigators, such as Bulbrook (1) studying the urinary excretion of certain hormonal by-products, Gerbrandy et al. using the excretion of calcium (2), Bullen et al. (3) using radio-active phosphorus, and Ferguson et al. (4) using cesium 131, have tried to determine if it is possible to predict the clinical response of a patient with advanced cancer of the breast to a particular therapeutic modality. If one could monitor tumor cell metabolism, observation of the effects of different therapeutic maneuvers upon it would be possible, and thereby one might predict the tumor's future response. In this respect phosphorus has been shown to play an important role in cell metabolism (5–8). Bullen and Hale (3) recorded the uptake of radioactive phosphorus in tumors and noted cycles or periods of increased and decreased uptake. They suggested that these changes represent increased and decreased tumor metabolism. In investigation of the methods of determining the role of radioactive phosphorus in cell metabolism, the relationship of heat to metabolism was noted. If increased and decreased temperature could be associated with changes in metabolic rates, it should be possible to follow metabolic activity in tumors by recording changes in temperature. It has been shown that tumor cells may have a higher than normal metabolic rate. One would therefore expect in tumor tissue a higher temperature than in comparable normal tissue, and in thermography an area of elevated skin temperature has been demonstrated in tumorous areas as measured against a comparable normal area (9, 10). Suitable equipment has been constructed to continuously monitor skin temperature. Because of the accessibility of breast tumors, the skin overlying them was first monitored (a) to determine if it would be possible to detect and continuously record changes in temperature, (b) to observe any alterations in the temperature pattern or level following hormonal or other therapeutic procedures, and (c) to determine if these alterations could be used to predict therapeutic response. The normal (control) breast was monitored to show (a) the normal temperature level; (b) the normal circadian temperature pattern; (c) the normal response of the temperature level and pattern to various therapeutic agents. The tumorous breast was expected to show (a) the temperature level to be elevated above normal; (b) the temperature pattern to be different from the normal; (c) the temperature level and pattern to return to normal in tumors responding to therapy.