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Microwaves Zap Cancer

An experimental breast cancer therapy based on MIT missile detection research has shown promise in recent clinical studies. In April, researchers presented preliminary results of tests of a treatment that kills cancer cells by heating them with microwave radiation, a technique invented by Lincoln Laboratory researcher Alan J. Fenn.

Women with early-stage breast cancer often have tumors surgically removed, but cancer cells that remain in the surrounding flesh can lead to recurrences. The goal of the heat treatment, or thermotherapy, is to kill these outlying tumor cells before surgery. During the thermotherapy, a microwave beam heats the tumor region to 45 °C. Software algorithms focus the beam so that it does not overheat healthy tissue.

The clinical study was conducted at the University of Oklahoma and eight medical centers and was funded by Celsion, a Columbia, MD, company that exclusively licenses the microwave technology from MIT. About half of the 64 participants received thermotherapy before surgery to remove lumps, while the other half had the surgery alone. Seventeen percent of those who received thermotherapy had tumor cells in the surrounding tissue, compared to 29 percent of those who didnt receive thermotherapy.

Fenn first devised this application for Lincoln Labs radar technology around 1990, when cuts in the federal missile-defense research budget compelled researchers to find civilian applications for their work. Though thermotherapy is still years away from FDA approval, Fenn hopes that it will one day spare some patients from surgery altogether.