Welcome to the site for hyperthermia
“There are no such things as incurable diseases, only incurable patients.”
Bernie Siegel
Welcome to the homepage of Dr. Wolf’s Center for Hyperthermia in Hannover.
Before I devoted myself to alternative treatment methods more than 25 years ago, I worked as a doctor and specialist for psychosomatic illnesses at the Medical University of Hannover. During that time I gradually realized that although the methods of orthodox medicine can be very helpful when dealing with acute illnesses, they often reach their limits when applied to chronic disease.
Even today – despite the greatest efforts and sometimes great successes in many areas – chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, rheumatism, cancer and allergies are still ‘hard nuts to crack’ for orthodox medicine.
As I became ever more frustrated with this powerlessness to help, I started looking into other possibilities and began to learn more about alternative methods of treatment. I discovered the potential that lies in this school of medicine, especially with regard to chronic illnesses. I gradually recognized that a holistic approach to therapy in treating patients with chronic disease can be a valuable alternative and/or supplement to orthodox treatment.
That is why we offer a variety of alternative and complementary types of therapy at my Center for Hyperthermia in Hannover. These different hyperthermia methods and treatments have proven to be effective in the long-term for patients on whom orthodox medicine had already given up. At our Center we are committed in particular to the treatment of cancer, which is still the most frequent cause of death despite the most modern advances in technology.
We have been able to achieve extremely positive results when using the methods of modern hyperthermia (overheating) treatment. Hyperthermia is not recognized by orthodox medicine as an effective form of treatment for cancer, but it can chalk up a considerable number of successes – either on its own or as a supplement to other treatment.
The history of hyperthermia
“Give me a chance to create a fever and I will cure any disease,” Parmenides, a Greek physician and philosopher (540-480 B.C.), said even back then. Fever has always had a special meaning for human beings: On the one hand the harbinger of death, on the other hand a chance of recovering.
The healing effect of heat (hyperthermia) was first mentioned in the early civilizations of ancient Egypt, where baths in hot desert sand were prescribed for the ill (hyperthermia effect). Then the doctors of ancient Greece started consistently using this therapeutic approach and named it ‘overheating’ (in Greek: hyperthermia). Over the centuries various areas of application were found, for example fever was artificially induced with the help of pyrogenic substances to fight infectious diseases. In the Middle Ages growths on the skin were burned away with a red-hot iron. Fever was considered to be a purging agent that purifies and detoxifies the body.
Heat, i.e. hyperthermia, has also been shown to be of great use in treating cancer. The reason for this is that tumor cells are extremely sensitive to heat. The American surgeon William Coley (1862-1936) had already observed that cancer patients often recovered completely if they had suffered a severe post-surgical infection of the wound accompanied by high fever(hyperthermia). This led the physician to conjecture that the increase in body temperature not only mobilized the body’s own immune system, thus fighting off the infection, but also destroyed the tumor at the same time.
The physicist and cancer researcher Manfred von Ardenne (1907-1997) was the first person to specifically treat cancer patients with the help of hyperthermia by using long-wave infrared light. Since the hyperthermia treatment was a very strenuous procedure, Ardenne supplied oxygen to the patients in support of the treatment. At first it was difficult to optimize the hyperthermia treatment, since there was no way to exactly control the internal temperature of the body. Over the years, however, more technologically advanced equipment guaranteed better control over the hyperthermia (overheating) process and made widespread use in clinics possible. In general, all procedures for overheating (hyperthermia) the body or the tumor area from the outside by using microwave or radio wave technology or by infrared light are called hyperthermia. This is different from fever therapy, by which the body is overheated from the ‘inside’.
The effect of hyperthermia
Contrary to healthy tissue, cancer cells cannot easily divert heat because of their primitive blood supply. This has to do with the fact that tumor cells have a different metabolism and their vascular supply lines are different compared to those of healthy cells. Our hyperthermia therapy uses exactly this effect.
When hyperthermia is used, cancer cells experience a build-up in heat, which leads to an inadequate supply of oxygen and a depletion of nutrients in the tumor. These deficiencies lead in turn to disturbances in the metabolic processes of dividing and maintaining cells, including the failure of the repair systems of the cells. Thus thermal cell components (i.e. those parts of the cells damaged by hyperthermia) cannot be replaced, and this can lead to the death of the cancer cells.
Furthermore, results from studies show that cancer cells form a special type of protein structure on the surface of the cells when heated to a temperature of approx. 42° C, which does not happen with healthy cells. This effect is activiated using hyperthermia. These protein structures – also known as heat shock proteins – are recognized by the body’s immune system as foreign substances, thus enabling the immune system to destroy them.
So hyperthermia works in two ways: on the one hand by creating thermal damage and on the other hand by stimulating the body’s own immune system. Hyperthermia therapy is used in combination with infusions (highly concentrated vitamin C, mandelonitrile and minerals), which we use in our different hyperthermia therapies.
The impressive effects of hyperthermia have been proven again and again in scientific studies. For example, the university hospital in Erlangen published a study on the effects of regional deep hyperthermia in patients with cancer of the bladder. The results show that five years after treatment 80% of those participating in the study who received hyperthermia treatment were alive, compared to 67% of those who did not receive hyperthermia treatment. The tendency toward invasive growth and metastases was also able to be considerably reduced by hyperthermia. The evaluation of the study showed that there was a direct connection between the frequency of hyperthermia treatment and the survival rate: the more often patients received overheating treatment, the better they became. Further studies in Holland and Italy confirmed these results.
Hyperthermia in connection with chemotherapy and radiation treatment
It has been proven again and again in recent years that hyperthermia is especially effective in combination with chemotherapy or radiation treatment. The reason for this is that the tumor has a chance to recover and become resistant to the radiation or cytostatics between treatments. This is where hyperthermia comes in: the genetic code of the tumor cells is damaged by the heat, which in turn results in the cells not being able to repair themselves and reproduce. Consequently, the chance of the cancer growing back is considerably smaller, when using hyperthermia.
National and international studies have shown that cytostatics are significantly more aggressive at temperatures above 40°C than at normal body temperature. For instance, it was able to be proven that in some cases the tumor completely receded in patients with certain types of cancer by using hyperthermia therapy. For patients with other types of cancer hyperthermia treatment was able to prolong their lives and considerably improve their quality of life. This was proven in a randomised study with over 340 patients who had sarcomas in the soft parts of the body. Patients who received chemotherapy together with local hyperthermia treatment lived an average of 32 months without further signs of the disease; in comparison, those patients in the control group without hyperthermia treatment were symptom-free for only 18 months.
The various kinds of hyperthermia
Our clinic offers various types of hyperthermia treatment. These include:
Whole body hyperthermia
Patients in whom metastases have already spread to all parts of the body are often treated with this type of hyperthermia. The entire body except for the head is overheated to a temperature of 39.5 to 40.5°C.
In our experience whole body hyperthermia can be used in particular in the case of inoperable metastases and tumors and for frequently recurring types of cancer. Sometimes, however, this type of hyperthermia can also be used on patients with a contained tumor. In our clinic we treat the following types of cancer with whole body hyperthermia: breast cancer, sarcomas, skin cancer, melanomes and bone metastases as well as carcinomas of the lung, the stomach, the pancreas the gall bladder and the kidney.
Loco-regional hyperthermia
In this case the hyperthermia (overheating) is concentrated on the affected organ or tissue, with temperatures reaching between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius. There is less of a strain on the body than with whole body hyperthermia since it does not affect as much of the healthy tissue. At our clinic we have used loco-regional hyperthermia to treat metastases in the peritoneum, recurring tumors in different organs, in particular in the female breast, brain tumors, tumors in the ears, nose and throat areas, the prostate gland and inoperable tumors.
Prostate gland hyperthermia or transurethral radio frequency therapy (TURF)
At our clinic we use a special machine, the radio frequency machine PCT2000 made by Onco-Therm, which in addition to the heat creates an electrical field made up of radio short waves. Contrary to the microwaves that were used years ago in hyperthermia therapies, the radio short waves have a greater range and cause considerably less damage to healthy tissue.
This type of hyperthermia is used to treat prostate cancer and benign enlargement or infection (prostatitis) of the prostate gland. It consists of placing a catheter in the urethra under local anesthesia, on the end of which is a probe. This probe works like a transmitter, with the receivers of the control signals that transfer the radio frequencies attached to the hip or upper thigh of the patient. The electric waves are sent via the probe to the prostate tissue (prostate cancer), where they are transformed into heat. The probe itself remains cool, so there is no danger of injuring the urethra. The thicker the tissue is, the more waves it absorbs and the higher the temperature gets. During transurethral hyperthermia the temperatures reach between 48 and 52 degrees Celsius; a temperature of 49 degrees has proven to be very effective with benign enlargements of the prostate gland and prostate cancer.
Advantages of transurethral hyperthermia:
- No risky operation
- No full anesthesia
- No side effects like incontinence or impotence
- No complications
What happens during hyperthermia treatment
One hyperthermia treatment usually takes between one and two hours.
Treatment at our clinic takes place in pleasant surroundings. Preparation for the treatment takes about half an hour, after which the hyperthermia treatment itself takes about 2-3 hours. Our staff stay at the patients’ side and monitor their vital signs throughout the entire treatment. Fortifying Ayurvedic tea and invigorating natural tonic are available. The muted light, soothing music and soft interior colors help patients to relax. In addition to the hyperthermia therapy, we give patients infusions of vitamin C, which in high concentration helps in damaging the tumor cells. There are also additional infusions with mandelonitrile and a special infusion for regeneration, detoxification and excretion of waste products.
Since serious methods and a holistic approach are very important to me in treating my patients, my entire staff regularly go on training courses in order to keep abreast of and be able to adequately implement the newest developments and study results without delay. Of course, all of the treatment methods we offer are explained in detail to every patient, including reference to the possibilities of orthodox medicine. As studies have confirmed again and again, combining treatment methods from both schools is often more effective than one type of therapy by itself.
Side effects:
Loco-regional hyperthermia in particular is usually tolerated very well and can be applied without special medication or other preparations. In many cases patients experience localized warmth or heat. In some circumstances this can lead to a stronger feeling of pain. If this happens, the doctor can adjust the treatment accordingly.
Whole body hyperthermia is also well-tolerated by our patients. Due to the length of the treatment, some patients experience some unpleasantness in having to lie prone for a long time, surrounded by water cushions that prevent burns. In general, the body experiences some stress from the heat, which is comparable to being in the sauna, i.e. patients who have good circulation will not have any problems.
Are you interested in hyperthermia or our other methods of treatment? You can obtain more information about our entire range of therapies by navigating through the website.
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