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In addition, heat supposedly makes the chemotherapy more powerful at killing cancer cells, as well as softens the nodules of the tumors so that the chemotherapy can more easily penetrate them, according to UCSD. Proponents of the treatment say that the treatment helps cancer patients live longer than they might be expected to, but critics say that they may have done well even without the therapy and that there is not enough scientific evidence that the new treatment works. There are about 1,500 of the Hipec treatments done now, but that number could grow to 10,000 per year as more hospitals add it to their cancer-treating repertoires. Among such hospitals that have recently added it: Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., Massachusetts General and University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The treatment is good for patients with only specific cancers, like mesothelioma, appendix cancer and pseudomyxoma peritonea (a rare cancer in the abdominal cavity that produces proteins called mucin), as well as some patients with colon cancer, according to UCSD.

 

Cancer treatments are increasingly innovative, as Hipec exemplifies. The Food and Drug Administration approved earlier this year a treatment for brain cancer, that kills tumor cells using electrical energy fields -- patients who used this treatment had the same outcomes as patients on chemotherapy, but with fewer side effects.

 

For more information visit:                                                  Cancer Treatment Centers of America

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