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Nanavati to start hyperthermia for
Aids patients
Soumya Viswanathan - Mumbai
Nanavati Hospital is planning
to start hyperthermia, the use of heat as a modality
of treatment, for Aids patients. The company is in the
process of procuring a heating system worth Rs 40-50
lakh from a Japanese firm, Thermidics.
Nanavati Hospital is already
using hyperthermia for local lesions in cancer patients,
to complement chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In the
next 2-3 months, it will set up the machine for whole
body hyperthermia. The machine is a water bath that
will be maintained at 41ºC, and the treatment is
given for half an hour to 45 mins once in 15 days or
3 weeks. The machine can be used to treat systemic cancers
as well as HIV cases.
Dr Nagraj Huilgol, chief of
radiation oncology, Nanavati Hospital explains the principle
behind the application of hyperthermia in Aids. “When
there is fever, the level of immunity rises. This is
the principle that researchers used to complement treatment
of Aids, where immunity level crawls — application
of heat to raise the immunity.”
Since antivirals are toxic,
doctors were looking at other options. Researchers tried
to complement antivirals with something which can boost
immunity and CD4 and CD8 counts. In animal experiments,
thereafter, researchers tried heating infected cats
and observed that CD4, CD8 counts increased, viral load
decreased and the cats survived for a longer time.
In Russia, studies were later
conducted for use of whole body hyperthermia in disseminated
cancer. Hyperthermia for Aids has been studied on a
small number of patients in Russia and Japan. Says Dr
Nagraj, “Initially scientists felt that because
HIV is heat sensitive, blood can be drawn from the patients,
heated at 55ºC, cooled and transfused back into
the patients’ body. But this was found to be toxic.”
Speaking of the technology
used in the heating system, Dr Huilgol says, “Heating
is not easy since you have to put patient under anaesthesia.
It is easy to burn but difficult to heat since body
cannot survive heat.”
Hyperthermia can be of help
in patients where antivirals fail, those who need treatment
but cannot afford antivirals or those who develop toxicity
to HIV drugs. There is enough evidence that it works
in systemic cancer and decreases the requirement of
antivirals, says Dr Huilgol.
soumya@expresshealthcaremgmt.com
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