Biomedical Device Laboratory
To study the detailed mechanism on hyperthermia therapy and to overcome the limitations with simulation and phantom studies, in-vivo mouse studies are conducted for squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. This study determined the effect of tumor properties on energy absorption, temeprature mapping, and thermal dose distribution in mild radiofrequency hyperthermia using a mouse xenograft model. Simulations were performed on a computed tomography mouse model. Dielectric properties of tumors were measured, and temeprature dependence were considered for thermal properties, metabolic heat generation, and perfusion. Our results showed that dielectric property variations were ore dominant than thermal properties and other parameters, and the measured dielectirc properties provided relatively more improved temeprature-mapping than the property values taken from previous study. Furthermore, consideration of temperature dependent thermal properties allowed elucidation of accurate temperature mapping to enable precise thermal-dose calculations.
The therapeutic outcomes of combined hyperthermia and radiation therapy can be calculated based on equivalent radiation dose. Thermal enhancement of radiosensitization depends on the targeted temeprature and type of cell line, and the effects in different cell lines are unknown. The combined therapeutic effects are calcultaed numerically as the equivalent radiation dose for lung cancer cell line A549. We found that the radiation dose increased when hyperthermia was applied. Overall, our study would contribute to effective thermoradiotherapy planning in clinics.