[Editors] MIT: Cancer therapy based on missile detection outlined

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT News Office
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
Phone: 617-253-2700
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www

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MIT: Cancer therapy based on missile detection outlined in new book
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For Immediate Release
TUESDAY, JAN. 30, 2007
Contact: Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office
Phone: 617-258-5402
Email: thomson at mit.edu

GRAPHIC AVAILABLE

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--A breast cancer treatment based on MIT research 
originally intended for detecting missiles is documented in a new 
book by Alan J. Fenn, an MIT researcher and inventor of the technique.

The book, "Breast Cancer Treatment by Focused Microwave 
Thermotherapy" (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007), includes a 
discussion of promising results from the latest clinical trials of 
the therapy.

Treating cancer with heat is not a new idea, but "researchers were 
having trouble using it to treat tumors deep within the body," said 
Fenn. Further, it's difficult to deliver the heat only to cancer 
cells without overheating normal tissue.

The microwaves in the new technique heat-and kill-cells containing 
high amounts of water and ions, or electrically charged atoms. Cancer 
cells typically have a high content of both, while healthy breast 
tissue contains much less. The outpatient procedure uses a single 
tiny needle probe to sense and measure parameters during treatment. 
Side effects appear to be minimal.

The first clinical study of the treatment involved 75 patients with 
early-stage breast cancer. Of the 34 patients who received the 
treatment prior to lumpectomy, none had viable cancer cells remaining 
at the surgical margins. Of the 41 patients who had a lumpectomy but 
did not receive the MIT treatment, four had cancer cells at the 
surgical margins.

This result is important for two reasons. First, additional breast 
surgery is often recommended for patients with cancer cells close to 
the edge of the lumpectomy surgical margin. Second, there is a higher 
risk of local recurrence of the breast cancer when cancer cells are 
found at the surgical margins. Fenn noted that all patients in both 
arms of the study received postoperative radiation therapy to reduce 
the risk of local recurrence.

Also presented in the new book are preliminary results for a study of 
the treatment in combination with preoperative chemotherapy for 
breast cancer patients with large tumors. "In this small feasibility 
study of 28 patients, one of the principal objectives was to increase 
tumor shrinkage with the combined use of focused microwave 
thermotherapy and preoperative chemotherapy," Fenn said.

In this study tumors shrunk by approximately 50 percent more in women 
treated with both the MIT technique and chemotherapy, versus women 
treated with chemotherapy alone.

The results of both clinical studies will be presented at the 17th 
Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference in Las 
Vegas, from Feb. 25-28.

Another, larger clinical study for patients with large breast cancer 
tumors is expected to begin later this year at six institutions in 
the United States and Canada.

Other potential clinical studies for treating recurrent breast 
cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ and benign breast lesions with the 
MIT thermotherapy treatment, as well as its use to enhance 
anti-estrogen therapy for breast cancer prevention, are also 
described in the book.

Celsion (Canada) Ltd. exclusively licenses the technology from MIT. 
The company developed the clinical thermotherapy system and is 
funding the clinical studies. The Air Force funded Fenn's original 
radar research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

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