A COVENTRY firm is helping cancer patients overcome the pain brought on as a side-effect of chemotherapy through the launch of a new treatment system.
Hilotherm is based at the University of Warwick science park’s venture centre and sells cooling technology to the NHS and private healthcare providers.
The firm’s Hilotherm ChemoCare system prevents pain brought on in patients’ hands and feet by chemotherapy.
Pains can sometimes be so severe for patients chemotherapy treatment has to be stopped, but side effects can be drastically reduced if the cooling is applied for half an hour before and after.
The treatment is applied at between 15 and 17 degrees Celsius and is easier to withstand than ice.
And after initially being trialled abroad, the first UK patients are now benefitting from the system at GenesisCare centres in Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Windsor and Maidstone.
Hilotherm director Kat Stein said: “This is a major development for patients undergoing chemotherapy.
“At times, the pain in the hands and feet can be excruciating, so much so that it can see treatment plans altered and, worse still, stopped altogether.
“This technology is a game-changer and the results that have been seen in tests in mainland Europe are very positive.
“One study showed that 93 per cent of patients did not suffer moderate or severe symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.”
