Short report n. 2 - Medical device for intravesical microwave hyperthermia in the treatment of superficial bladder cancer

Synergo® is a system that allows to combine the administration of intravesical chemotherapy with an hyperthermic treatment to the bladder wall. The system has a catheter, inserted into the bladder through the urethra, with multiple functions:

• heating the wall through an antenna emitting microwaves
• instilling intravesical chemotherapic drugs
• monitoring the temperature reached.

Intake of the cytostatic drug by tumor cells and its distribution would be improved because of the increased cell permeability induced by heat (1).
The therapy is performed as an outpatient treatment with weekly sessions lasting 40-60 minutes, repeated 4-8 times and followed by 4-6 maintenance sessions every 4-8 weeks.

Synergo® is proposed as a second-line treatment following the failure of previous instillations of chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
From the databases of specialist outpatient service and Hospital Discharge Records relative to the year 2008, it has been estimated that the number of patients eligible for such treatment would be about 250 per year.

Short Report n. 2, Agenzia sanitaria e sociale regionale - Regione Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, gennaio 2010