{"entity":{"id":"hyperthermia-systems","kind":"technology","name":"Hyperthermia systems (BSD-2000, EHY-2000, superficial and interstitial applicators)","aka":[],"tldr":"Machines that warm a tumour to about 40 to 43 degrees for an hour using radio waves or microwaves from outside the body, making the radiotherapy or chemotherapy given alongside work better. Few hospitals own one.","summary":"Deep regional hyperthermia systems surround the pelvis or abdomen with a ring of radiofrequency antennas whose phases and amplitudes are steered so that the energy adds up at the tumour; Pyrexar's BSD-2000 family, descended from BSD Medical's machines of the 1980s, is the reference system, with a version that runs inside an MRI scanner so that temperature can be mapped non-invasively. Superficial systems (BSD-500 and others) use microwave applicators for chest-wall recurrences and melanoma skin metastases; interstitial and intracavitary antennas heat cervical and prostate tumours from within; and Oncotherm's EHY-2000 and EHY-2030 deliver a lower-power modulated radiofrequency current between electrodes, marketed as electro-hyperthermia. Temperature is usually monitored with thermometry probes in catheters. Randomised trials showed benefit when hyperthermia was added to radiotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer (Dutch Deep Hyperthermia Trial) and to chemotherapy for high-risk soft-tissue sarcoma (EORTC 62961), and it is used for recurrent breast cancer on the chest wall, bladder cancer and paediatric germ cell tumours in specialist centres, mainly in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Japan.\n\nHyperthermia is cheap per session, non-ionising and repeatable, but each treatment takes an hour or more of staff time, heating deep tumours evenly is physically hard and depends on the patient's anatomy and blood flow, temperature verification is invasive unless MRI thermometry is available, the evidence base is small and old, and reimbursement is patchy, which is why the installed base has stayed small.","status":"established","asOf":"2026-09-17","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthermia_therapy","links":[{"label":"van der Zee et al., Comparison of radiotherapy alone with radiotherapy plus hyperthermia in locally advanced pelvic tumours: a prospective randomised multicentre trial (Lancet 2000)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02059-6"},{"label":"Issels et al., Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy alone or with regional hyperthermia for localised high-risk soft-tissue sarcoma (Lancet Oncology 2010)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(10)70071-1"},{"label":"Pyrexar Medical: BSD-2000","url":"https://www.pyrexar.com/"}],"tags":["machines-wave2"],"related":["hipec-pipac-devices","thermal-ablation","mri"],"cancers":["cervical","sarcoma","breast-cancer","non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer","melanoma","head-and-neck"],"sections":["devices","radiation"],"technologies":["hyperthermia","imrt-igrt","cytotoxic-chemotherapy","magnetic-nanoparticle-hyperthermia"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["pyrexar-medical","oncotherm"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Phased-array radiofrequency or microwave applicators deposit electromagnetic energy so that tumour temperature rises to 40 to 43 degrees Celsius for about an hour, sensitising hypoxic and S-phase cells to radiation, increasing drug delivery and inhibiting DNA repair.","strengths":["Randomised evidence of benefit with radiotherapy in cervical cancer and with chemotherapy in sarcoma","Non-ionising and repeatable","Low cost per session"],"limitations":["Even heating of deep tumours is hard","Long sessions and invasive thermometry","Few centres and patchy reimbursement"],"since":1980},"route":"/technologies/hyperthermia-systems/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"cytotoxic-chemotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Cytotoxic chemotherapy","route":"/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/"},{"id":"electrochemotherapy-devices","kind":"technology","name":"Electrochemotherapy devices (Cliniporator)","route":"/technologies/electrochemotherapy-devices/"},{"id":"hipec-pipac-devices","kind":"technology","name":"HIPEC perfusion pumps and PIPAC nebulisers","route":"/technologies/hipec-pipac-devices/"},{"id":"hyperthermia","kind":"technology","name":"Hyperthermia","route":"/technologies/hyperthermia/"},{"id":"imrt-igrt","kind":"technology","name":"IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)","route":"/technologies/imrt-igrt/"},{"id":"magnetic-nanoparticle-hyperthermia","kind":"technology","name":"Magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia","route":"/technologies/magnetic-nanoparticle-hyperthermia/"},{"id":"mri","kind":"technology","name":"MRI","route":"/technologies/mri/"},{"id":"thermal-ablation","kind":"technology","name":"Thermal ablation (RFA, microwave, cryo)","route":"/technologies/thermal-ablation/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"breast-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Breast cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/breast-cancer/"},{"id":"cervical","kind":"cancer","name":"Cervical cancer","route":"/cancers/cervical/"},{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"},{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer","route":"/cancers/non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"devices","kind":"section","name":"Devices & Physical Therapies","route":"/fronts/devices/"},{"id":"radiation","kind":"section","name":"Radiation Therapy","route":"/fronts/radiation/"}],"company":[{"id":"oncotherm","kind":"company","name":"Oncotherm","route":"/companies/oncotherm/"},{"id":"pyrexar-medical","kind":"company","name":"Pyrexar Medical","route":"/companies/pyrexar-medical/"}]}}