INVESTIGATION OF CANCER THERMO-THERAPIES USING GOLD NANOMATERIALS APPLIED TO RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION

Abstract

Radiofrequency ablation is one of the thermal ablation methods that is an alternative approach to cancer treatment. Currently, it is a widely used method in medicine with adverse consequences as it injures healthy tissue around the tumor. Gold nanoparticles are represented as a promised material in biomedical engineering to apply in thermal ablation treatment. This master thesis aims to evaluate the different densities of gold nanoparticles on the temperature distribution during radiofrequency ablation of parenchymal tissue in repeated experiments. In addition, agarose gel and pristine tissue were also analyzed to compare results in the point of temperature change tendency. Gold nanoparticles diluted with agarose in different volumes impact the treated area in different ways. Hence, the density directly affects the distribution of heat on the phantom and assists to avoid healthy cells death. As a sensing system, magnesium oxide nanoparticle-based high-scattered six fibers and optical backscatter reflectometer LUNA 4600 was used to measure the heating area and analyze the received data. All results are represented as thermal maps to evaluate a heating area diameter and repeatability similarity in four different cases.