Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Cause Non-Temperature-Induced Physical and Biological Effects in Cancer Cells.

Non-temperature-induced effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF) have been controversial for decades. Here, we established measurement techniques to prove their existence by investigating energy deposition in tumor cells under RF exposure and upon adding amplitude modulation (AM) (AMRF). Using a preclinical device LabEHY-200 with a novel in vitro applicator, we analyzed the power deposition and system parameters for five human colorectal cancer cell lines and measured the apoptosis rates in vitro and tumor growth inhibition in vivo in comparison to water bath heating.

Tetramodal therapy with transurethral resection followed by chemoradiation in combination with hyperthermia for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: early results of a multicenter phase IIB study.

Background: Transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TUR-BT) followed by chemoradiation (CRT) is a valid treatment option for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a tetramodal approach with additional regional hyperthermia (RHT).

Methods: Patients with stages T2-4 MIBC were recruited at two institutions.

Experimental and computational evaluation of capacitive hyperthermia.

Objective: Hyperthermia as an enhancer of radio- and/or chemotherapy has been confirmed by various trials. Quite a few positive randomized trials have been carried out with capacitive hyperthermia systems (CHS), even though specific absorption rates (SAR) in deep regions are known to be inferior to the established annular-phased array techniques. Due to a lack of systematic SAR measurements for current capacitive technology, we performed phantom measurements in combination with simulation studies.

Differential Response of Acidobacteria to Water Content, Soil Type, and Land Use During an Extended Drought in African Savannah Soils.

Although climate change is expected to increase the extent of drylands worldwide, the effect of drought on the soil microbiome is still insufficiently understood as for dominant but little characterized phyla like the Acidobacteria. In the present study the active acidobacterial communities of Namibian soils differing in type, physicochemical parameters, and land use were characterized by high-throughput sequencing. Water content, pH, major ions and nutrients were distinct for sandy soils, woodlands or dry agriculture on loamy sands.

Clinical Evidence for Thermometric Parameters to Guide Hyperthermia Treatment.

Hyperthermia (HT) is a cancer treatment modality which targets malignant tissues by heating to 40-43 °C. In addition to its direct antitumor effects, HT potently sensitizes the tumor to radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT), thereby enabling complete eradication of some tumor entities as shown in randomized clinical trials. Despite the proven efficacy of HT in combination with classic cancer treatments, there are limited international standards for the delivery of HT in the clinical setting.

MMP-2 knockdown blunts age-dependent carotid stiffness by decreasing elastin degradation and augmenting eNOS activation.

Aims: Arterial stiffness is a hallmark of vascular ageing that precedes and strongly predicts the development of cardiovascular diseases. Age-dependent stiffening of large elastic arteries is primarily attributed to increased levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2). However, the mechanistic link between age-dependent arterial stiffness and MMP-2 remains unclear.

Dose-intensified Versus Conventional-dose Salvage Radiotherapy for Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer After Prostatectomy: The SAKK 09/10 Randomized Phase 3 Trial.

Background: Salvage radiotherapy (SRT) is utilized for biochemical progression of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy (RP).

Objective: To report the outcomes of the SAKK 09/10 trial comparing conventional and dose-intensified SRT.

Design, Setting, And Participants: SAKK 09/10 was a randomized, multicenter, phase 3 trial that recruited men with biochemical progression after RP.

Patient-Specific Planning for Thermal Magnetic Resonance of Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Thermal intervention is a potent sensitizer of cells to chemo- and radiotherapy in cancer treatment. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a potential clinical target, given the cancer's aggressive nature and resistance to current treatment options. This drives research into optimization algorithms for treatment planning as well as radiofrequency (RF) applicator design for treatment delivery.

Non-thermal membrane effects of electromagnetic fields and therapeutic applications in oncology.

The temperature-independent effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) have been controversial for decades. Here, we critically analyze the available literature on non-thermal effects of radiofrequency (RF) and microwave EMF. We present a literature review of preclinical and clinical data on non-thermal antiproliferative effects of various EMF applications, including conventional RF hyperthermia (HT, cRF-HT).

Improved patient-specific hyperthermia planning based on parametrized electromagnetic and thermal models for the SIGMA-30 applicator.

Objective: To create an improved planning method for pediatric regional hyperthermia (RHT) using the SIGMA-30 applicator (SIGMA-30).

Materials And Methods: An electromagnetic model of SIGMA-30 was generated for use with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Applying special MATLAB-based algorithms, voxel models of a pediatric patient with pelvic rhabdomyosarcoma were created from Computed-Tomography (CT) contours for use with the FDTD method and the finite-difference (FD) method capable of using either temperature-independent or temperature-dependent perfusion models for solving the Bioheat Transfer Equation (BHTE).

PET measured hypoxia and MRI parameters in re-irradiated head and neck squamous cell carcinomas: findings of a prospective pilot study.

Tumor hypoxia measured by dedicated tracers like [ F]fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) is a well-established prognostic factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) treated with definitive chemoradiation (CRT). However, prevalence and characteristics of positron emission tomography (PET) measured hypoxia in patients with relapse after previous irradiation is missing. Here we report imaging findings of a prospective pilot study in HNSCC patients treated with re-irradiation.

Salvage-Radiation Therapy and Regional Hyperthermia for Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer after Radical Prostatectomy (Results of the Planned Interim Analysis).

Efforts to improve the outcome of prostate cancer (PC) patients after radical prostatectomy (RP) include adjuvant or salvage radiation therapy (SRT), but still up to 50% of patients develop a disease progression after radiotherapy (RT). Regional hyperthermia (HT) is well-known to improve tumor sensitivity to RT in several entities. Here we report on a planned interim analysis of tolerability and feasibility after recruitment of the first 50 patients of a trial combining SRT and HT.

Treatment planning facilitates clinical decision making for hyperthermia treatments.

Treatment quality is important in clinical hyperthermia. Guideline-based treatment protocols are used to determine system settings and treatment strategies to ensure effective tumor heating and prevent unwanted treatment-limiting normal tissue hot spots. Realizing both these goals can prove challenging using generic guideline-based and operator-dependent treatment strategies.

Radiotherapeutic treatment options for oligotopic malignant liver lesions.

Background: Several radiotherapeutic approaches for patients with oligotopic malignant liver lesions unfit for surgical resection exist. The most advanced competitive techniques are high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy, Cyberknife, volume-modulated-arc therapy (VMAT) and Tomotherapy. We evaluated the optimal technique by a planning study for a single ablative dose with different lesion sizes.

Fever range whole body hyperthermia for re-irradiation of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas: Final results of a prospective study.

Objectives: Fever-range whole body hyperthermia (FRWBH) has been shown to improve tumor oxygenation in vivo. A prospective pilot study addressed the question if addition of FRWBH to re-irradiation is feasible in recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) with unfavorable prognostic features.

Materials And Methods: The study completed accrual with the recruitment of ten patients between April 2018 and March 2020.

Reirradiation of High-Grade Gliomas: A Retrospective Analysis of 198 Patients Based on the Charité Data Set.

Purpose: There is no standard of care for recurrent high-grade glioma. Treatment strategies include reresection, reirradiation, systemic agents, intratumoral thermotherapy using magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles ("nanotherapy"), and tumor treating fields. Only a small number of patients are eligible for reresection, and because many patients receive a full course of radiation therapy, there is fear of reirradiation-induced morbidity.

Non-thermal effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.

We explored the non-thermal effects of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields and established a theoretical framework to elucidate their electrophysiological mechanisms. In experiments, we used a preclinical treatment device to treat the human colon cancer cell lines HT-29 and SW480 with either water bath heating (WB-HT) or 13.56 MHz RF hyperthermia (RF-HT) at 42 °C for 60 min and analyzed the proliferation and clonogenicity.

Stochastic Dispersal Rather Than Deterministic Selection Explains the Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Soil Bacteria in a Temperate Grassland.

Spatial and temporal processes shaping microbial communities are inseparably linked but rarely studied together. By Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing, we monitored soil bacteria in 360 stations on a 100 square meter plot distributed across six intra-annual samplings in a rarely managed, temperate grassland. Using a multi-tiered approach, we tested the extent to which stochastic or deterministic processes influenced the composition of local communities.

Heating technology for malignant tumors: a review.

The therapeutic application of heat is very effective in cancer treatment. Both hyperthermia, i.e.

Radiofrequency applicator concepts for thermal magnetic resonance of brain tumors at 297 MHz (7.0 Tesla).

Thermal intervention is a potent sensitizer of cells to chemo- and radiotherapy in cancer treatment. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a potential clinical target, given the cancer's aggressive nature and resistance to current treatment options. The annular phased array (APA) technique employing electromagnetic waves in the radiofrequency (RF) range allows for localized temperature increase in deep seated target volumes (TVs).

Tumor Seeding along the Puncture Tract in CT-Guided Interstitial High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy.

Purpose: To quantify the occurrence of tumor seeding in computed tomography (CT)-guided high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRBT) and to identify potential risk factors.

Materials And Methods: CT-HDRBT is a minimally invasive therapeutic option for local ablation of unresectable tumors. The procedure involves CT-guided placement of an enclosed catheter and high-dose-rate brachytherapy using iridium-192.

Locoregional peritoneal hyperthermia to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis: a simulation study comparing different locoregional heating systems.

Intravenous chemotherapy plus abdominal locoregional hyperthermia is explored as a noninvasive alternative to hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). First clinical results demonstrate feasibility, but survival data show mixed results and for pancreatic and gastric origin results are not better than expected for chemotherapy alone. In this study, computer simulations are performed to compare the effectiveness of peritoneal heating for five different locoregional heating systems.

Areal Surface Roughness Optimization of Maraging Steel Parts Produced by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing.

We report on an experimental study and statistical optimization of the surface roughness using design of experiments and the Taguchi method for parts made of 1.2709 maraging steel. We employ a hybrid additive manufacturing approach that combines additive manufacturing by selective laser melting with subtractive manufacturing using milling in an automated process within a single machine.

Image-guided dose-escalated radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer with helical tomotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate treatment outcomes for patients with localized prostate cancer who were treated with dose-escalated primary image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 88 consecutive patients treated using helical tomotherapy with daily megavoltage CTs (MVCT). Patients were prescribed daily doses of 1.