LOCAL HYPERTHERMIA AND RADIATION-THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF SUPERFICIALLY LOCATED LYMPHOMAS AND RECURRENT HODGKINS-DISEASE

The combination of radiation therapy CRT) and hyperthermia (HT) has pr oved to be an effective treatment of a wide variety of superficially l ocated recurrences of different tumors, particularly those arising in previously irradiated areas. Some studies have been reported with the use of this combined approach in the management of cutaneous lymphomas or recurrent previously irradiated sites of Hodgkin's disease (HD). W e report a small series of five patients with six located sites of rec urrent HD, and four patients with six superficially located sites of n on Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), all of them being treated with combined HT and RT at our institution. Local control was obtained in each of co mbined treatment fields, and all patients are alive after a median fol low-up of 24 months. All the patients tolerated the HT treatments well , and in all cases average intratumoral temperatures were >42 degrees C, with 8 out of 12 sites achieving the goal of average temperatures > 42.5 degrees C. Two patients, one with recurrent HD and one with NHL, are free of disease after 20 and 21 months from the end of combined th erapy. Our results thus seem to confirm previous experiences, suggesti ng a role of HT/RT not only for palliative purposes in cutaneous lymph omas, but also in the management of selected, heavily pretreated patie nts with superficially located recurrences of HD.