Optimal Design of Laser Surgery for Cancer Treatment Through Nanoparticle-Mediated Hyperthermia Therapy

Laser therapy is a minimally invasive alternative to surgical resection, but its use is limited due to the lack of specific heating due to the rate of thermal diffusion in the tissue. Nanoparticles, Nanoshells in particular, can act as intense infrared absorbers allowing enhanced thermal deposition of laser energy into tissue enabling improving the ability to damage larger tissue volumes with lower thermal doses. To design optimal nanoparticles mediated ablation therapies, an accurate understanding of the thermal distributions associated with nanoshell inclusion is essential. We present a highly accurate adaptive finite element tumor model capable of predicting the temperature and cell damage distribution due to laser heating in prostate tumor with and without inclusion of nanoshells. This model can enable optimized treatment planning based on predicted tissue response to therapy due to increased absorption from nanoshell inclusion.