Hyperthermia Plus Chemotherapy Nearly Doubles Disease-Free Survival
Compared to Chemotherapy Alone for Sarcoma Cancer Patients
SALT LAKE CITY—June 4, 2007— BSD
Medical Corp. (AMX:BSM) announced
today that the results of a 340 patient randomized Phase III clinical
trial testing the benefit of adding hyperthermia therapy to
chemotherapy were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) conference underway in Chicago, Illinois. According to
the results of this clinical study, which was conducted at nine major
European cancer treatment institutions and at Duke University Medical
Center in the USA, both disease-free survival time and local
progression free survival time for patients with locally advanced,
high-grade soft tissue sarcomas nearly doubled when hyperthermia
therapy was added to chemotherapy, as compared to patients who received
chemotherapy alone.
The patients enrolled in this clinical study were very ill, with
high-grade (II/III) soft tissue sarcomas and were at significant risk
of local failure and metastasis. The patients were randomly assigned to
receive either chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy combined with
hyperthermia therapy. The patient characteristics were well balanced
between these two groups. Their treatments were administered in 4
cycles every 3 weeks before and after surgery and radiation therapy.
For patients who received both hyperthermia therapy and chemotherapy
the median disease free survival was 31.7 months, compared to 16.2
months for those who received chemotherapy alone (p=0.004), a 95%
increase. The median local progression free survival rate was estimated
at 45.3 months for patients who received chemotherapy plus hyperthermia
therapy, compared to 23.7 months for patients who received chemotherapy
alone (p=0.01), a 91% increase.
The study was conducted under the direction of the European Society of
Hyperthermic Oncology (ESHO RHT-95) and the European Organization for
Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC 62961). Rolf Issels, MD PhD of
the Munich University Medical School in Germany, was the principal
investigator. Duke University was a participant in the international
study listed on the National Cancer Institute's website at
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/EORTC-62961 under the NCI number
NCT00003052.
All hyperthermia treatments performed in the study were conducted
using
BSD-2000 hyperthermia systems developed and produced by BSD Medical
Corp. The BSD-2000 hyperthermia therapy system non-invasively delivers
precision focused hyperthermia therapy to cancerous tumors, including
tumors located deep in the body. The BSD-2000 is a recipient of the
Frost and Sullivan Technology Innovation of the Year Award for cancer
therapy devices.
About BSD Medical
BSD Medical Corp. is the leading developer of systems used to deliver
hyperthermia therapy for the treatment of cancer. Hyperthermia therapy
is used to kill cancer directly and increase the effectiveness of
companion radiation treatments. Research has also shown promising
results from the use of hyperthermia therapy in combination with
chemotherapy, and for tumor reduction prior to surgery. For further
information visit BSD Medical's website at www.BSDMedical.com or BSD's
patient website at www.treatwithheat.com.
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical
facts are forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties detailed in the
Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.