Simulation analysis of coupled magnetic-temperature fields in magnetic fluid hyperthermia

Abstract

Magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) adopts the relaxation mechanism of magnetic nanoparticles to heat targeted tumors by coupling magnetic fields and temperature fields. Temperature regulation plays an important role in determining hyperthermia efficacy. It is generally difficult to obtain the distribution of temperature over the whole treatment region during clinical hyperthermia due to the limitations of invasive temperature measurements. To predict the temperature and its distribution during hyperthermia, this paper uses the finite element method and builds a coupled multiphysics model of MFH to analyze the magnetic field and temperature distributions within treated tissue and to determine the influence of the magnetic field strength on the tissue temperature during hyperthermia. The heat dissipation equations are used as inputs to determine the specific loss power of heat sources for nanoparticle injection sites. The results show the distribution of the temperature in the targeted tissue. In addition, an in vitro MFH experiment is subsequently performed with cervical cancer cell cultures. A temperature increase of approximately 4 °C is observed in the tumor tissue treated with Fe2O3 magnetic fluids when the magnetic field is applied for 30 minutes. Hence, the feasibility of hyperthermia and the accuracy of the proposed simulation model are verified with such experimental results.