A Study on Improving the Efficacy of Nanoparticle-Based Photothermal Therapy: From Nanoscale to Micron Scale to Millimeter Scale

Abstract

Photothermal therapy based on nanoparticles is a promising method for cancer treatment. However, there are still many limits in practical application. During photothermal therapy, improving therapeutic effect is contradictory to reducing overheating in healthy tissues. We should make the temperature distribution more uniform and reduce the damage of healthy tissue caused by overheating. In the present work, we develop a simple computational method to analyze the temperature distribution during photothermal therapy at three levels (nanoscale, micron scale, and millimeter scale), and investigate the effects of nanoparticle size, volume fraction, light intensity, and irradiation shape on temperature distribution. We find that it is difficult to achieve good therapeutic effect just by adjusting the volume fraction of nanoparticles and light intensity. To achieve good therapeutic effect, we propose a new irradiation shape, spot array light. This method can achieve a better temperature distribution by easily regulating the positions of spots for the tumor with a large aspect ratio or a small one. In addition, the method of irradiation with spot array light can better reduce the overheating at the bottom and top of the tumor than the full-coverage light or others such as ring light. This theoretical work presents a simple method to investigate the effects of irradiation shape on therapy and provides a far more controlled way to improve the efficacy of photothermal therapy.

The Effect of Thermal Oxidation on the Photothermal Conversion Property of Tantalum Coatings

“…Currently, the photothermal conversion property of biocompatible materials is considered a key parameter for photothermal therapy in bone cancer post-surgery [10,11]. Photothermal conversion means converting the absorbed photon energy from optical illumination into heat energy, which makes it a promising method of therapy to kill cancer cells through the generated heat.…”

Polydopamine-Coated Cu-BTC Nanowires for Effective Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

“…It is important to note that Cu-BTC@PDA NWs had the highest thermal response during PTT, they also lowered the ROS created during treatment to exclude cancer cell death owing to oxidative damage. Due to larger nanoparticles, we can improve the temperature distribution by increasing the distance between particles or changing the position of illumination [ 52 ].…”

A Comprehensive Evaluation of ZrC Nanoparticle in Combined Photothermal and Radiation Therapy for Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

“…Given the limitations of RT alone, new efforts have explored the potential of combining RT with phototherapy (PT), including photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), as a synergistic approach to therapy. The photothermal nanomaterial at tumor site creates local hyperthermia under external near infrared (NIR) irradiation (20,21). The in vivo hyperthermia not only contributes to necrosis or apoptosis of cancer cells, but also creates an oxygen-enriched environment, and in effect reduces radiotherapy resistance (22).…”