The core body temperature of a human being is approximately 98.6° F (37° C) and varies during the day.

In total body hyperthermia, the patient’s core body temperature is slowly increased to about 102.2° F (39° C) and sometimes even higher to 104° F (40.0° C) if it is medical appropriate.

The immune shift is triggered by an impulse from deep within the brain stem in the hypothalamus. This area of the brain contains the command center for our most basic functions, especially those our bodies carry on without our conscious awareness such as breathing, blood pressure, and core body temperature.

This command center guides the autonomic nervous system, which functions “automatically.” Fever is triggered from deep within the most ancient area of the brain, also present in all mammals, which demonstrates how fundamental fever is to our functioning. Total-body hyperthermia treatment is used to re-launch and activate cells of the immune system.

These defenses increase targeted efforts to destroy the cancer through cytotoxicity. This selective toxicity by immune cells targets malignant cells, resulting in tumor cell death (necrosis and apoptosis).

Healing occurs as the cancer load is lowered through improved immune activity. In sum, the fever primes the immune system to destroy cancerous cells and triggers increased immune responses throughout the whole body. I was diagnosed with colon cancer and that spread to my liver. Although I did well on the chemotherapy, the oncologist made it clear that treatment was palliative and not a cure. So we made an appointment for a consultation in Cologne. When we learned that Dr. Gorter’s treatment could be used together with chemotherapy, we decided to do that as well. I began the total body hyperthermia and dendritic cell therapy in Cologne.

Once you’ve received the treatment, you know what to expect. It’s not painful and I was hardly sick at all. I usually feel worse after the dendritic cell vaccination, but only for one day. Every nine weeks a scan is made and they show that there are no new tumors and the liver tumors are getting smaller. The fact that my cancer has stabilized is remarkable. (Truus Kleij-Swan, more than five year long-term survivor of intestinal cancer, metastasized to the liver, lymph nodes and peritoneum.)

The approach to fever-range whole-body hyperthermia in the Gorter Model is based on 25 years of clinical experience by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD.
The model differs from other treatment protocol in several ways:

Comprehensive therapy—At the Medical Center Cologne, total-body hyperthermia is usually provided in combination with local hyperthermia, injections of dendritic cells, mistletoe injections, and IV nutrients for immune restoration. This therapy enables the immune system to better identify cancer cells and targets efforts to destroy them.

Low intensity—Controlled fever is maintained at a moderate temperature to safe-guard the well-being of the patient. Maximum temperatures range from 101.3 F (38.5 C) to 103 F (39.5 C).

Carefully-staged treatment—Temperature is gradually increased for three hours and then, after a plateau of about one hour, allowed to return to normal over the course of one to two hours. The average treatment lasts four to six hours in total.

Optimal timing—Hyperthermia in combination with dendritic cell vaccinations is provided six times monthly. A major difference with other hyperthermia protocols is the timing sequence. Namely the induced total-body hyperthermia mobilizes the immune system and then the immune system is augmented by the dendritic cell vaccinations. Thus, the body receives millions of its own activated dendritic cells, timed to work together with fever-induced immune system activation.

An absence of side effects—This process involves the body’s innate immune responses, Treatment is accomplished with almost no disruption or side effects—typically less than one day of mild flu-like symptoms at most.

Primary therapy—This timed approach is almost always effective in restarting and enhancing immune function and competence. This method harnesses the biological healing power of fever in the treatment of cancer patients. Once the immune system is engaged, the body begins destroying cancer cells from within. This reduces the need for medication and stabilizes the body against further deterioration. These gains provide the basis for a sense of well-being, improved health, and healing, even in many patients with Stage III and IV (end-stage) cancer.

Complementary to conventional treatment—Fever-range total-body hyperthermia can be applied as part of a comprehensive immune therapy program or in combination with conventional therapy such as chemotherapy or radiation. The majority of studies have focused on this combination treatment. Research has shown that hyperthermia increases the effectiveness of conventional therapy with fewer side effects than chemotherapy or radiation treatment alone. Also, conventional therapies sustain their efficacy when given in combination with hyperthermia. In the European Union, this type of combination therapy is widely applied in most major cancer treatment centers.

Induced total-body hyperthermia was first studied in animal models 25 years ago, and then in humans over the past 20 years, both in cancer patients and in healthy volunteers.

Initial studies explored the most effective ways to administer the therapy, defining the length of treatment, heat sources, optimal temperatures, and the effects produced.

Treatment has been applied as a free-standing therapy, in combination with immune therapies such as dendritic cell injections, and with conventional therapies such as radiation, chemotherapy, or hormones. Decades of research have shown that hyperthermia is a safe procedure for the greater majority of patients and many types of cancer.[i],[ii]

Effectiveness—Natural killer (NK) cells play an important in destroying the cancer cells. Hyperthermia is effective in recruiting natural killer cells into action. When dendritic cells are also provided through inoculation, they activate toxic (cytotoxic) T-cells, alerting them to the cancer tissue in the body. Working in combination, these immune cells have inhibiting effects on tumor growth.

Safety and duration—Studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s established hyperthermia as a safe form of treatment.[i,ii] Studies in Germany have also confirmed the safety of infrared radiation as an optimal heat source. This is the form of heat used at the Medical Center Cologne in total-body hyperthermia. In terms of the length of the therapy, early studies provided hyperthermia for a duration of 30 to 60 minutes, but most treatment provided today is typically two to four hours, depending on the patient’s response, plus a cooling down period of one to two hours.

The Cologne model utilizes a protocol of at least 3 to four hours in which the temperature is gradually increased over the course of 120 minutes or longer, followed by a 60-minute interval when the temperature is maintained at a steady level (plateau) before cooling to restore normal temperature.

Modulating core temperature—Research has confirmed that traditional forms of heat therapy such as mineral baths and Jacuzzis have very limited effect on core temperature. A study at the Medical University of Hannover, Germany showed that when body temperature was raised via warm baths which were gradually heated to 42 C (approx 107 F), core temperature actually increased less than one degree Fahrenheit (or 0.4 C) above normal.[vi]

Activating the immune system—It is well recognized that the immune system ramps up and doubles the level of immune activity in the blood at 101.3 F C (38.5). Therefore the maximum temperature used with patients at Cologne is 102.2 F (39 C). This moderate approach to hyperthermia increases the safety factor, while effectively promoting an immune response. Research from the University of Vienna has shown that in a test tube evaluation, when the blood was heated to 102.2 F (39 C), the level of protective monocytes multiplied by 10 times. These researchers also confirmed that one of the mechanisms that promote this increase is heat shock proteins, a factor in the blood that plays a role in calling up the immune response.

Tapping the body’s intelligence—A study in Hamburg, Germany found that an increase in body temperature alone does not automatically induce the immune response. In this research, the temperature of cancer patients was increased with hyperthermia, and compared with that of healthy volunteers who took part in strenuous physical exercise to raise their temperatures. Although participants in both groups experienced elevated temperatures, immune function increased in the cancer patients, but not in the healthy volunteers. Elevated immune factors in the cancer patients included human growth hormone, and the induction of natural killer cells, and T-cells.iv

Moderating temperature—In contrast to the Gorter Model, many of the research studies use temperatures in the range of 41.8 to 42 C (107.5 F) and in some of studies patients were anesthetized so they could tolerate these high temperatures. (Unnecessary anesthesia is always to be avoided, since it can induce senility in older patients, in a phenomenon known as Sundowner Syndrome and general anesthesia in general is often immune suppressing.)

Treatment without side effects—A German study of hyperthermia for pain in fibromyalgia patients tracked safety and effectiveness. “Side effects were observed in 14 of 69 participants (20%) but all disappeared in less than 30 minutes.” The study showed that hyperthermia combined with standard multimodal rehabilitation was significantly more effective than standard therapy alone in terms of reducing pain intensity, while improving quality of life.

Minimizing distress—Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York report that total-body hyperthermia treatments are “well tolerated, with no significant adverse events related to cardiac, hepatic, renal, or pulmonary systems.”[iii] However, patients with a history of heart disease or brain tumors must be carefully screened. At Cologne only 70% of patients are considered eligible for hyperthermia. Additional safety measures used in Cologne include an electrolyte IV solution to avoid dehydration and monitoring of the heart rate at all times.

Therapeutic fever in combination with conventional therapies—Hyperthermia has also been found to increase the successful use of radiation[viii] and chemotherapy[ix] and does not interfere with the activity of medication (17). A study conducted at a medical center in the Netherlands tracked the progress of 378 cancer patients receiving hyperthermia and also radiation treatments. Over an 8-year time period, a positive response was achieved in 77% of patients. At 5 years, the disease-specific survival rate was 47%, which is exceptional in cancer treatment. Toxicity was an issue for 12% of patients. Researchers concluded that in addition to diagnosis, “the number of hyperthermia treatments emerged as a predictor of positive outcome.”[xvi]
In the majority of studies, a stabilizing therapeutic response was experienced by more than 50% of patients—typically 56% to 80% of those treated.

Hyperthermia is becoming accepted throughout Europe and has been researched in the U.S. at university medical centers such as the University of Pennsylvania[vii] a nd the University of Texasix. We predict that the next phase of this research will focus on hyperthermia as a freestanding cancer therapy for patients with inoperable tumors and those who require or desire a protocol low in toxicity.

 Kluger MJ. Fever: Role of pyrogens and cryogens. Physiol Rev. 1991; 71(1): 93–127.
  Roberts Jr NJ. The immunological consequences of fever. In: Mackowiak PA, ed. In Fever: Basic mechanisms and management. New York: Raven. 1991:125.
  Roberts Jr NJ. Impact of temperature elevation on immunologic defenses. Rev Infect Dis. 1991; 13(3): 462–72.
  National Library of Medicine, MeSH Database, available at  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/mesh. Accessed 07-20-1
  Kleef R, Jonas WB, Knogler W, Stenzinger W. Fever, cancer incidence and spontaneous remissions. Neuroimmunomodulation. 2001;9(2):55-64.
  Kleef, R. & Hager, D. Incidence of Malignancies and Missing History of Fever in Baronzio, G.F. & Hager, E. (2006). Hyperthermia in Cancer Treatment: A Primer. New York: Springer US.
  Laurence JZ. The diagnosis of surgical cancer (Lister Prize say for 1854). London: Churchill. 1854; 56.