Heat In Medicine

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Thermal therapy (Heat
therapy)
“Use of heat in therapy
for pain relief and health”
Hyperthermia:
“Body temperature that is higher than
normal. Its effects in the targeted cell make
the cell more likely to be affected by other
treatments”
• Doesn’t harm normal cells and tissues

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Thermal Ablation:
“A procedure that uses heat to remove a tissue
or a part of the body or destroy its function”
 It uses various thermal energy sources
such as radio frequency, microwaves,
ultrasound and laser.
 Use very high temperatures, can kill cancer
cells outright, but also damage or kill
normal cells and tissues.

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Hypertherapy
Chemotherapy Radiation Therapy
Tumor Cell Death
Hypertherapy(Thermal therapy) is used with
other cancer therapies.
Research has shown that:
High temperatures can damage and kill cancer
cells, with minimal injury to normal tissues

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 Hyperthermia increases blood flow to tumor,
making tumor cells more sensitive to
radiation and improving delivery of
chemotherapy to the tumor.
 It heightens the effectiveness of
chemotherapy drugs.
 It enhances the body’s immune response to
the cancer cells.

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Treatment of small kidney
tumor
Hyperthermia >> Shrinks tumor
 Hyperthermia with radiation therapy provides local tumor
control with minimal side effects (Least or no damage to
normal cells and tissues)
 Heat damages blood vessels inside of tumors and causes
less blood flow to tumors, which can help slow its growth

Destroying abnormal heart
tissue
Usually drugs and medications are used but they
cause side effects.
RFA (Radio Frequency ablation) procedure is
used to restore heart’s regular rhythm.
It uses radiofrequency energy(similar to microwave
heat therapy) to destroy a small area of heart tissue that
is causing rapid and irregular heartbeats.

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 Done by inserting thin, flexible metal wires into
vessels extending to the heart
 Electrodes are placed at the ends of the metal
wires.
 Each electrical conductor emits heat
generating waves and this heat destroys
abnormal tissue.

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Varicose Veins
 Swollen and enlarged veins that
usually occur on the legs and feet

This technique uses
radiofrequency energy to
heat up and damage the
wall inside a vein,
resulting in the closing of
that vein.
Radio frequency energy is
directed through a thin
tube (Catheter) inserted
through a small incision in
the vein

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Thermoregulation(Heat Regulation)
 Ability of an organism to keep its
body temperature within certain
boundaries, even when external
temperature is very different.
Normothermia: at 37C
(condition at which body is at normal
temperature)
Hyperthermia: above 38 C
Hypothermia: below 36 C

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Heat Transfer
• Through direct contact
Conduction
• Through fluid movement
Convection
• In form of rays or waves or particles
(Electromagnetic waves)
Radiation
Movement of heat (Thermal energy) from one
thing to another thing of different temperature

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Normothermia in surgery
“Warmth matters before, during and
after surgery”
 In the OR (operating room), avoiding
hypothermia and maintaining
normothermia is a big deal…

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 Why patients are not left in
hypothermic condition?
At hypothermic
 Our protective, life-sustaining internal
mechanisms are deactivated together.
 Slightly below or above 37C, proteins don’t
work well at all.
 Platelets begin to lose their stickness, leading
to excess bleeding.
 Lymphocytes stop working well, increasing risk
of surgical site infection.

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Forced-air warming
“Prevent and treat unintended hypothermia”
 It is delivered via a special blanket or a gown
that is placed on or under the patient
throughout the surgical process
 Utilizing properties of convection and radiation,
warm air travels through perforations in the soft
material, transferring heat across the surface of
the patient’s skin.

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Medical Thermography
(Thermal Imagining)
It uses a type of infra-red technology
A thermal infrared camera takes a
picture of the areas of different
temperatures displaying these
patterns as a sort of heat map.
 Shows thermal abnormalities
present in the body --- aid for
diagnosis and prognosis
 Completely safe, uses no radiation
Identify
• Presence of early tumor
development
• Soft tissue injuries
• Arterial diseases
• Neck and back problems

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 When an abnormality occurs, there maybe
excessive information of blood vessels and
inflammation in the tissue. These show up on
the infra red image as areas with a higher skin
temperatures.
Before
Complains of pain
After
Relief after some
treatment reduction in
hotter colours (red,
orange, white)

FREEZING PATIENTS
“Killing a patient to
save his life”
 Blood is drained by surgeons and is replaced
with freezing salt water
 Without heartbeat and brain activity, patient will
be clinically dead.
 Done to:
 Trauma patients
 People who had Cardiac arrest

Heat In Medicine

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Heat In Medicine