Antiangiogenic metronomic chemotherapy and hyperthermia in the palliation of advanced cancer

Abstract

Among a large series of cancer patients treated with a combination of chemotherapy and sessions of hyperthermia, particular attention was given to a specific group of patients with advanced cancer who refused standard, aggressive, treatment. In these cases, hyperthermia was associated to low-dose (metronomic) chemotherapy. No toxicity was reported in any of our patients, while a marginal benefit in terms of tumour progression was observed. During therapy, we could detect a coagulative perturbation that deserves careful discussion. In our opinion, this experience should be matter of debate to conclude if current response criteria (WHO/UICC and RECIST) in treating cancer patients are really suitable tools to evaluate new, and non-aggressive anticancer strategies.