Efficacy of Hyperthermia in Treatment of Recurrent Metastatic Breast Cancer After Long-Term Chemotherapy: A Report of 2 Cases.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer has a long-term prognosis with various multimodality treatments. This report introduces the effectiveness of radiofrequency (RF) hyperthermia in the long-term treatment for recurrent/metastatic breast cancer. CASE REPORT In the first case, the patient had bone and liver metastases during the course of chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiotherapy for 27 years after curative resection of breast cancer. Finally, she received RF hyperthermia alone for liver metastasis and showed a decrease in tumor markers and reduction in liver metastasis on computed tomography (CT). In the second case, the patient underwent curative resection for multiple occurrences on the left side of the breast. She received postoperative chemotherapy combined with hormone therapy but had metachronous local recurrences. She continued hormone therapy after 2 local recurrence resections; unfortunately, she had bone, liver, and lung metastases and pleural dissemination. Eventually, the patient received RF hyperthermia combined with oral chemotherapy. Her tumor markers decreased, and CT showed disappearance of lung metastasis and improved pleural dissemination. Furthermore, the reduction of chemotherapy adverse events due to hyperthermia allowed the patient to continue chemotherapy and improved her quality of life. CONCLUSIONS We present 2 cases in which RF hyperthermia had a positive effect despite the presence of a recurrent tumor after various types of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. This report suggests that the addition of RF hyperthermia to conventional multidisciplinary therapies may enhance the therapeutic effect of these treatments and improve the quality of life in patients with recurrent breast cancer.