Nanoparticle Heat Transfer and Its Application to Laser Hyperthermia

Nanoparticles-enabled laser hyperthermia holds a great promise as a new therapeutic treatment for cancer patients. This paper presents some preliminary data on the frequency tenability of nanostructures and on the heat transfer aspect of this process that results from the interaction between high frequency electromagnetic field and nanostructures. Maxwell equations are solved to predict heat generation from the surface plasma resonance excitation of a nano-sized particle or structure by a laser beam. An experimental system has also been setup to validate the concept of heat generation through particle-laser interaction. Results obtained on both model tissues and on mice are consistent with the model predictions. Experiments further show that concentrated local heating can be generated in cancerous cells for a thermal kill.