Self-pay · free initial inquiry · itemized cost overview before you travel
Whole-Body Hyperthermia
Whole-body hyperthermia in a hospital: how the treatment runs
Whole-body hyperthermia raises the core body temperature under controlled medical conditions. At St. George Hospital in Bad Aibling, Germany, physicians and nurses perform it on a hospital ward and have performed more than 30,000 sessions.
Is this program right for you?
It may fit if
- You are considering a Lyme program that includes whole-body hyperthermia.
- You receive standard cancer treatment and want to know whether hyperthermia can be added.
It does not fit if
- You want a single session without a medical assessment.
- You want to replace the cancer treatment your oncologist recommends.
Some conditions rule it out: see who should not have it.
Your stay, step by step
Before you travel
- Free initial inquiry; we then request your records
- Medical review and video call
- Written proposal and itemized cost overview
With you International Office, physician
Arrival day
- Airport transfer on request, charged extra
- Blood tests; you meet your lead physician
With you Lead physician
Before the first session
- ECG, lung function and lab tests; echocardiogram or stress ECG if needed
With you Physician, nursing team
Session days
- Whole-body hyperthermia, 4 to 6 hours, then rest
- Never on consecutive days
With you Physician and nurse in the room
Days between sessions
- Recovery and the other therapies of your plan
- Lyme program: two recovery days after each session
With you Ward team
After you are home
- Written report for your doctor at home
- Questions go to the International Office
With you International Office
A typical sequence. The number of sessions follows your program and findings.
Who looks after you
Julian Douwes M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Program leadership and treatment protocol development
Martin Rößner M.D.
Chief Physician
Chief Physician; daily clinical care and patient consultations
Gabriele Zabel M.D.
Attending Physician
Physician on your inpatient care team
Your contacts in the International Office
One session, five stages
About 4 to 6 hours from preparation to rest.
Preparation
Vital signs, an IV line and a temperature probe. A nurse stays at your bed.
Heating
Your temperature rises gradually while core temperature, heart rate, oxygen and blood pressure are watched.
Target temperature
Up to 42 °C / 107.6 °F, by protocol; under sedation above 41 °C / 105.8 °F.
Cooling
A controlled cool-down, still monitored.
Rest
You will be very tired that evening. Bring warm clothes.
Durations vary with your protocol.
Whole-body and local-regional hyperthermia compared
Whole-body
- What is heated
- The whole body, by water-filtered infrared light
- Temperature
- 38.5–42 °C / 101.3–107.6 °F core temperature
- Session
- 4 to 6 hours
- Anesthesia
- Sedation above 41 °C / 105.8 °F
- After a session
- Very tired that evening; in the Lyme program two recovery days
Local-regional
- What is heated
- One region, such as a tumor, by applicators
- Temperature
- 40–44 °C / 104.0–111.2 °F in that region
- Session
- About 60 minutes
- Anesthesia
- None
- After a session
- You can usually go on with your day
Your physician chooses the form from your diagnosis and findings.
Who should not have it
Not performed with severe heart or blood-vessel disease or a recent heart attack, uncontrolled epilepsy, pregnancy, acute thrombosis, severe anemia, bleeding or clotting disorders, or brain metastases.
Show the screening and every stage
- Screening before the first session. The physicians review your medical history and your blood tests. The screening includes special laboratory tests by ArminLabs. Before the first session you have an ECG and a lung function test. If needed, the physicians add an echocardiogram or a stress ECG. The purpose of this screening is to find reasons against the treatment.
- Preparation on the day. A physician checks your vital signs. You receive an intravenous line and a temperature probe. You lie down under the heating unit. A nurse stays at your bed.
- Heating phase. The system raises your body temperature gradually. Medical staff monitor your core temperature, heart rate, oxygen level and blood pressure continuously.
- Phase at the target temperature. The physician holds the temperature that your protocol defines, up to 42 °C / 107.6 °F. The session feels like a strong fever: you feel heat, you sweat, your pulse is fast and you are thirsty. You receive fluids by infusion. A nurse and a physician are with you. Sessions above 41 °C / 105.8 °F, which include the AAT protocol, are performed under sedation. In sessions at lower temperatures you can rest or sleep lightly.
- Supervised cooling phase. The staff lower your temperature in a controlled way and continue the monitoring.
- Rest after the session. A rest period follows. In the evening you will be very tired. Bring warm clothes for the time after the session.
- The following days. In the Lyme program the two days after a session are for recovery and continued therapy. Some Lyme patients have a Herxheimer reaction, which is a temporary worsening of symptoms. The team monitors and treats this reaction.
The complete session takes 4 to 6 hours, including preparation and the first rest period.
Exclusion criteria
The physicians do not perform whole-body hyperthermia in patients with one of these conditions:
- severe disease of the heart or the blood vessels, or a recent heart attack
- epilepsy or another seizure disorder that is not controlled
- pregnancy
- an acute thrombosis
- severe anemia
- active bleeding or a disorder of blood clotting
- brain metastases
The physician decides after the review of your records and after the screening. The hospital offers whole-body hyperthermia only within an inpatient program.
Three protocols
The Lyme protocol (AAT, heat plus intravenous antibiotics) holds 41.6–41.8 °C / 106.9–107.2 °F for 120 minutes; in oncology it runs alongside chemotherapy or immunotherapy; ME/CFS uses a mild protocol of 38.5–39.5 °C / 101.3–103.1 °F.
Show the three protocols
The device and the temperature
You lie in a hyperthermia system that uses water-filtered infrared radiation. The system raises the body temperature gradually. Depending on the protocol, the core body temperature reaches 38.5–42 °C / 101.3–107.6 °F. Whole-body hyperthermia at St. George Hospital
Three protocols for three groups of patients
- Lyme program. The core Lyme module includes 2 sessions at 41.6–41.8 °C / 106.9–107.2 °F. Each session holds this temperature for 120 minutes. The patient receives antibiotics intravenously during the session. The hospital calls this protocol antibiotic-augmented thermoeradication (AAT); the name describes the method. The minimum target temperature of the AAT protocol is 41.6 °C / 106.9 °F. The protocol sets this minimum because laboratory studies show that Borrelia bacteria are sensitive to heat. The Lyme treatment protocol
- Integrative oncology. The hospital uses whole-body hyperthermia alongside chemotherapy or immunotherapy. The physician sets the temperature and the number of sessions for each patient. The integrative oncology program
- ME/CFS. The hospital uses mild whole-body hyperthermia at 38.5–39.5 °C / 101.3–103.1 °F. The team adapts each session to the limited energy of the patient. The ME/CFS program
The responsible physicians
Dr. Martin Rößner, Chief Physician for Internal Medicine and Oncology, supervises the hyperthermia protocols. He adapts each treatment to the diagnosis and makes it part of the complete treatment plan. The hospital has used whole-body hyperthermia since 1991. All forms of hyperthermia at the hospital
A different method: local-regional hyperthermia
Local-regional hyperthermia heats one region of the body, for example the region of a tumor, to 40–44 °C / 104.0–111.2 °F. A session takes about 60 minutes and needs no anesthesia. What local-regional hyperthermia involves
The hyperthermia room
Infrared canopy, seen from the bed · St. George Hospital 
Control panel of the hyperthermia system · St. George Hospital 
Patient room for the rest after a session · St. George Hospital
Getting to Bad Aibling
- A8 motorway
- Railway
- Airport connection
Regional schematic, not to scale. The airport connection and railway are simplified.
- Fly to Munich (MUC) Munich Airport is about 60 minutes from Bad Aibling by car.
- Car or train to Bad Aibling By train, or by car with a transfer arranged on request and charged extra.
- Planned admission You arrive on the date the International Office has booked.
Rosenheimer Str. 6-8
83043 Bad Aibling, Germany
What it costs
Included
- The treatment package set out in your proposal
Additional costs
- Individual add-ons your plan needs
- Airport transfers (charged extra)
How payment works
- Itemized cost overview before you travel
- Deposit before admission
- Itemized final invoice for your insurer
Reimbursement
Self-pay; reimbursement is never promised. We can put US patients in touch with an independent office that works on a success basis; the hospital is not involved.
Evidence and limits
More than 30,000 sessions since 1991 have helped many of our patients. Trials support regional heat with radiotherapy in named cancers; in Lyme disease, trials are still missing, and we cannot promise a result.
Read the evidence and the limits
Oncology. The evidence for hyperthermia is strongest where it is added to standard cancer treatment. A randomized multicenter trial showed better results for radiotherapy plus hyperthermia than for radiotherapy alone in locally advanced pelvic tumors (van der Zee et al., 2000), a meta-analysis confirmed the benefit in cervical cancer (Datta et al., 2016), and regional hyperthermia added to chemotherapy improved long-term outcomes in high-risk soft tissue sarcoma (Issels et al., 2018). These trials used regional hyperthermia; the history, current use and open questions of whole-body hyperthermia are reviewed by Vaupel (Vaupel et al., 2022). The guidelines of the European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology (ESHO) cover the clinical use of hyperthermia with radiotherapy.
Other controlled evidence. A randomized clinical trial found an effect of a single whole-body hyperthermia session on depressive symptoms in major depression (Janssen et al., 2016); it shows the procedure can be tested under controlled conditions, but says nothing about Lyme disease, cancer or ME/CFS.
Lyme disease. Laboratory studies show that raised temperature increases the effect of antibiotics on Borrelia burgdorferi (Reisinger et al., 1996). The AAT protocol is built on this finding. Clinical trials of hyperthermia in Lyme disease do not exist; the evidence is limited to the mechanism and to the hospital's experience with more than 12,000 Lyme patients since 1995, recorded in the follow-up measurements.
ME/CFS and post-COVID syndrome. The hospital uses mild whole-body hyperthermia for these conditions as part of a wider plan.
Guidelines. Whole-body hyperthermia for Lyme disease, ME/CFS and post-COVID syndrome is not part of guideline care. After the diagnostics, the physicians offer it as an individual treatment attempt. Your physician explains the procedure and the current state of knowledge to you before you consent.
What whole-body hyperthermia cannot do. Whole-body hyperthermia is one part of a treatment plan. It does not replace antibiotic therapy, and it does not replace standard oncology treatment. How you respond shows during the program and in the follow-up examinations, which is why they are scheduled.
Safety. Hyperthermia has an established safety profile when an experienced medical team performs it. Whole-body hyperthermia is an intensive procedure. For this reason the hospital performs it with continuous monitoring, with a nurse and a physician in the room.
From your first message to aftercare
The International Office handles your inquiry, records, travel and follow-up questions.
Step 1: Initial inquiry
A short message by online form, email or phone. The initial inquiry is free of charge.
Free of charge
Step 2: Reply from the International Office
The International Office reviews your message and your case directly and gets back to you.
Step 3: Secure transfer of records
After the first contact, the International Office requests your medical records and tells you how to send them securely.
Step 4: Medical review and video call
Your records are reviewed medically. A video call with a medically trained member of the International Office is free of charge; a video consultation with a physician is usually charged, and the International Office explains the fee before booking.
Video call with the International Office: free of charge
Step 5: Treatment proposal and cost overview
You receive an individual treatment proposal and an itemized cost overview in writing.
Step 6: Travel, stay and aftercare
The International Office helps you plan travel and your stay. You go home with detailed written plans for your doctor; follow-up questions go to the International Office.
Questions that patients ask about whole-body hyperthermia
How long does a session of whole-body hyperthermia take?
A session takes 4 to 6 hours. This time includes preparation, the heating phase, the phase at the target temperature, the supervised cooling phase and the first rest period.
What does a session feel like?
A session feels like a strong fever. You feel heat, you sweat, your pulse is fast and you are thirsty. You receive fluids through an intravenous line. You can rest or sleep lightly. A nurse and a physician are with you. In the evening after the session you will be very tired.
How many sessions will I have?
The core Lyme module includes 2 sessions in 2 weeks. In other programs the physician recommends the number of sessions on the basis of your diagnosis and your treatment goals. The sessions are spread over the program.
Who supervises the treatment?
Dr. Martin Rößner, Chief Physician for Internal Medicine and Oncology, supervises the hyperthermia protocols. During the session a nurse and a physician are with you. They monitor core temperature, heart rate, oxygen level and blood pressure continuously.
Is whole-body hyperthermia the same as fever therapy?
No. In whole-body hyperthermia a medical device heats the body from outside, and staff measure the core body temperature continuously. Fever therapy is a different procedure. In fever therapy the physician gives a bacterial preparation, and the body produces a fever in response.
Is whole-body hyperthermia the same as local-regional hyperthermia?
No. Local-regional hyperthermia heats one region of the body to 40–44 °C / 104.0–111.2 °F. A session takes about 60 minutes and needs no anesthesia. The hospital uses local-regional hyperthermia mainly in oncology.
What does whole-body hyperthermia cost?
Costs are individual: a package price plus the individual add-ons your plan needs. After your inquiry and the review of your case, you receive an itemized cost overview in writing, before you travel. A deposit is paid before admission, and airport transfers are charged extra.
References
- Whole-Body Hyperthermia for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry 2016. PMID 27172277
- Whole-Body Hyperthermia (WBH): Historical Aspects, Current Use, and Future Perspectives. Adv Exp Med Biol 2022. PMID 37494515
- Comparison of radiotherapy alone with radiotherapy plus hyperthermia in locally advanced pelvic tumours: a prospective, randomised, multicentre trial. Lancet 2000. PMID 10791373
- Hyperthermia and radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer: a systematic review with conventional and network meta-analyses. Int J Hyperthermia 2016. PMID 27411568
- Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Plus Regional Hyperthermia on Long-term Outcomes Among Patients With Localized High-Risk Soft Tissue Sarcoma. JAMA Oncol 2018. PMID 29450452
- Antibiotics and increased temperature against Borrelia burgdorferi in vitro. Scand J Infect Dis 1996. PMID 8792482
Thank you. Your inquiry has reached the International Office.
The International Office reviews your message and your case directly and gets back to you. To add something, call +49 8061 398-0.
Please do not send medical records yet. The International Office requests them and tells you how to send them securely.
The next steps
Step 2: Reply from the International Office
The International Office reviews your message and your case directly and gets back to you.
Step 3: Secure transfer of records
After the first contact, the International Office requests your medical records and tells you how to send them securely.
Step 4: Medical review and video call
Your records are reviewed medically. A video call with a medically trained member of the International Office is free of charge; a video consultation with a physician is usually charged, and the International Office explains the fee before booking.
Video call with the International Office: free of charge
Step 5: Treatment proposal and cost overview
You receive an individual treatment proposal and an itemized cost overview in writing.
Step 6: Travel, stay and aftercare
The International Office helps you plan travel and your stay. You go home with detailed written plans for your doctor; follow-up questions go to the International Office.
Send a free inquiry
A few sentences about your situation are enough. Medical records are requested later through a secure channel, so please do not paste them here.
Send a free inquiry
The initial inquiry is free of charge. The International Office reviews your message and your case directly and gets back to you.
- Phone
- +49 8061 398-0
- Hours
- Mon–Thu 08:00–17:00, Fri 08:00–14:00 German time (CET/CEST); in the US Mon–Thu 2–11 a.m. ET, Fri 2–8 a.m. ET.
Munich Airport (MUC), about 60 minutes by car.