Numerical Simulation of Thermal Therapy for Melanoma in Mice

Abstract

In recent years, the progressively escalating incidence and exceptionally high fatality rate of cutaneous melanoma have drawn the attention of numerous scholars. Magnetic induction hyperthermia, as an efficacious tumor treatment modality, has been promoted and applied in the therapy of some tumors. In this paper, the melanoma atop the mice’s heads was chosen as the research subject, and a magnetic induction hyperthermia approach based on Helmholtz coils as the magnetic field excitation was investigated and designed. The influence of the electromagnetic field and thermal field on organisms was addressed through modeling by COMSOL simulation software. The results showed that the maximum values of induced electric field and magnetic induction strength in mouse tumor tissues were 63.1 V/m and 8.5621 mT, respectively, which reached the threshold value of magnetic field strength required for magnetic induction hyperthermia. The maxima of the induced electric field and magnetic induction intensity in brain tissues are, respectively, 35.828 V/m and 8.57 mT. Approximately 93% of the tumor tissue can reach 42 °C, and the maximum temperature is 44.2 °C. Within this temperature range, a large quantity of tumor cells can be successfully induced to undergo apoptosis without harming normal cells, and the therapeutic effect is favorable.

Keywords

• magnetic induction hyperthermia
• Helmholtz coils
• digital mouse models
• magnetic nanoparticles