RE: Cancer treatment question

["Fulmer, Philip" <FulmerP@ttnus.com>]

At first blush, it seems as though the heat would tend to make it less
likely for damaged cells to survive.  The radiation damage is over very
quickly following irradiation (<<1 sec); so what remains is the cell's
survivability depending on the damage.  In the surgical arena, the
medical folks typically chill tissue to slow extensive damage (e.g.,
accidentally severed tissue, organs for transplant, etc.).  So it sounds
like a natural extension of that principle to heat tissue that has
suffered some damage in the hopes that the radiation-damaged cells won't
survive while the healthy cells endure.

________________________
Philip C. Fulmer, PhD, CHP
TetraTech NUS
900 Trail Ridge Road
Aiken, SC 29803
(803) 649-7963
fulmerp@ttnus.com



One of my co-workers is going to be getting radiation therapy as a
follow
up to cancer surgery and the radiation is to be followed by about 30 min
of
heat therapy.  I've covered the radiation aspects with this person, but
the
heat follow up is a bit of a mystery.  The doctor said something about
it
helping the radiation work better.  Can anyone give me a more
satisfactory
answer to pass along, please?  

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