A proposal for the addition of hyperthermia to treatment regimens for acute and chronic leukemia.

The application of hyperthermia to the treatment of neoplastic disease has focused on solid tumors. Human leukemias, both acute and chronic, may represent a unique category of diseases for which hyperthermia should be used in combination with other modalities with curative intent. Three clinical approaches to include hyperthermia are proposed. These are hyperthermia in combination with therapeutic low-dose whole-body irradiation, ablative high-dose total body irradiation, and bone marrow transplantation with the in vitro use of hyperthermia to purge remission bone marrow of abnormal cells. Current preclinical research further supporting these clinical applications of hyperthermia to leukemia therapy is presented.