Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sevagram, District Wardha, Maharashtra, India is located in a rural setup and caters to a very underprivileged patient population with limited resources to even pay for their treatment. As per the latest Indian Cancer Registry Report 2020, of the 28 population based cancer registries (PBCR), the age adjusted incidence rates (AAR) in males and females are 64.9 and 69.9. This makes the AAR in Wardha District (district where MGIMS is located) as one of the lowest ranked AAR both for male (national range: 39.5 - 269.4) and females (national range: 49.4 - 219.8) in the country. However, the %mortality / incidence, is one of the highest for Wardha, both for males (65.9%, national range: 14.7% - 71.9%) and females (53%, national range: 9% - 63%). This indicates that the prognosis of patients in this district is one of the worst in India and thus requires a new approach to their standard therapeutic option. This has to be cost-effective, without any significant additional morbidity, and should used in conjunction to the standard treatment of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.
Hyperthermia, which is raising the tumor temperature to 40 - 43°C is perhaps one of the oldest forms of treatment for cancer. Hyperthermia, being a potent radiosensitizer, a chemosensitizer, an immunomodulator with no significantly added side effects, could be an effective therapeutic modality that could be expected to improve the outcome in these patients. However, it also needs to be cost-effective and require low capital cost investment so that other centers, especially in low and low-middle income countries could also introduce hyperthermia to the therapeutic armamentarium for cancer.
This is a registry trial for patients being treated with hyperthermia along with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy as per the standard departmental protocol for various locally advanced cancers.
Histopathologically proven cases of locally advanced head and neck cancers (LAHNC), TNM stages III and IV and locally advanced cancer cervix (LACC), FIGO stages IIB - IVA, locally advanced (primarily inoperable T3 and T4 stages) and recurrent breast cancers, cancer oesophagus (TNM stages IIA and IVA), anorectal cancers (TNM stages IIA to IIIC)
Following work up, patients should have no metastatic disease (M0)
Age > 18 years
Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥ 80
Prior radiotherapy to the site of treatment
No prior or concurrent malignancies other than surgically treated squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma of the skin which are not in the area of the present malignancy
Psychiatric or addictive disorders or other conditions that, in the opinion of the investigator would preclude the patient from meeting the study requirements.
Patients having metal implants, pacemakers or clustered markers.