Modeling of temperature profile during magnetic thermotherapy for cancer treatment

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) used as heat sources for cancer thermotherapy have received much recent attention. While the mechanism for power dissipation in MNPs in a rf field is well understood, a challenge in moving to clinical trials is an inadequate understanding of the power dissipation in MNP-impregnated systems and the discrepancy between the predicted and observed heating rates in the same. Here we use the Rosensweig [J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 252, 370 (2002)] model for heat generation in a single MNP, considering immediate heating of the MNPs, and the double spherical-shell heat transfer equations developed by Andr et al. [J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 194, 197 (1999)] to model the heat distribution in and around a ferrofluid sample or a tumor impregnated with MNPs. We model the heat generated at the edge of a 2.15 cm spherical sample of FeCo/(Fe, Co)(3)O(4) agglomerates containing 95 vol% MNPs with mean radius of 9 nm, dispersed at 1.5-1.6 vol% in bisphenol F. We match the model against experimental data for a similar system produced in our laboratory and find good agreement. Finite element models, extensible to more complex systems, have also been developed and checked against the analytical model and the data. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3077211]