Radio Wave Treatment for Cancer
In the ongoing attempt to find the ultimate cancer-fighting tool, some scientists are placing their bets on radio-wave therapy, which could be a promising method of fighting the disease while avoiding the side effects inherent with traditional treatment methods.
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Cancer
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Cancer can occur anywhere in the body when cells develop abnormalities and are not immediately dispatched by the body's defense networks. Cancer cells multiply faster than normal cells, eventually dominating the body and interfering with its biological processes. When left untreated and unchecked, cancer is fatal.
Treatments
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Traditional cancer treatments include surgery to remove cancerous growths, chemotherapy (drugs injected to destroy cancer cells), and radiation therapy (high levels of targeted radiation used to burn out cancerous tissue). Each of these treatments has potentially unpleasant side effects. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy, for example, will destroy a fair portion of healthy tissue along with the cancerous growth.
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Radio-Wave Therapy
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One method of radio-wave therapy was developed by John Kanzius, an individual with no medical background who began searching for a cure after he was diagnosed with cancer. Since radio waves are harmless to human tissue yet can cause remarkable increases in heat within metal, the theory behind radio-wave therapy is to "infect" cancer cells with metal so that they can be destroyed. While other forms of radio-wave therapy are available, such as a treatment developed by Australian Dr. John Holt, these methods have not been well researched.
Nanotechnology
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The key to getting metal into cancerous tissue is nanotechnology. Tiny particles made from metal or carbon are injected into the body, where they bind with cancerous tissue. Radio waves superheat the metal, killing the cancer cells while leaving the surrounding tissue relatively unscathed. Holt's technique does not use nanotechnology but instead uses only radio waves to target cancer cells.
Considerations
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Human trials of the therapy based on Kanzius' method are still a few years away. According to an article published at Wired.com in 2008, the best-case scenario involved beginning human trials within three years. Further research into this therapy is under way at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston without Kanzius' assistance, as he lost his battle with cancer in early 2009.
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