Jennifer Matthews: You use a microwave to heat your food and now, that same technology may help breast cancer patients live longer. At Duke University, the Hyperthermia or Heat Room is the newest way to treat tumors.

Dr. Zeljko Vujaskovic: If you heat tumor cells, then you really enhance cell killing with radiation.

Jennifer Matthews: As part of a clinical study, researchers give heat therapy to patients before radiation the breast is placed in a water bath. Microwave energy heats the tissue to about 106 degrees. The heat activates the cells in the tumor making them more sensitive to radiation.

Dr. Zeljko Vujaskovic: You can really make this tumor more oxygenated and then make them more susceptible to cell-killing.

Jennifer Matthews: Patients who had the heat therapy with radiation were nearly three-times more likely to have their tumors go away and stay away. Emma Jean Wilson's doctor recommended a mastectomy, but she decided to give the new therapy a try.

Emma Jean Wilson: I feel very lucky that I didn't proceed and what was considered standard course of treatment.

Jennifer Matthews: Emma's tumor shrank just a few months after receiving the therapy. Today, she is cancer-free and recently celebrated at a Rolling stones concert.

Emma Jean Wilson: I feel very blessed to be here, and I have received wonderful care.

Jennifer Matthews: And now she looks forward to making new memories. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.