開發具高專一性、快速治療、顯影的創新磁熱療術及兼具造影與治療的多功能系統

Current cancer hyperthermia technologies require high-end medical materials to guide non-invasive energy waves. However, there are many lesion areas that are not suitable for image navigation. Therefore, small carriers have been developed to absorb lower energy outside the body to achieve specific heat. Treatment has become the mainstream of research. However, the current technologies are faced with the fact that the temperature rise is not fast enough, and the neighboring important organizations are also damaged. This project develops innovative magnetic hyperthermia this year. The proposed biocompatible material confirms the location of the treatment area throughout the course of the treatment, without the need for additional imaging agents. More importantly, the maximum temperature of the carrier can be controlled externally, which also makes the heat dose for heating the complex lesion area controllable, which is different from the use of drug treatment, which is difficult to accurately control. Due to the low thermal conversion efficiency of inherent biomaterials, current electromagnetic ablation has brought some biosafety risks due to its specific regulations for biosafety standards. Due to the inefficient heat conversion from intrinsic biological materials, current electromagnetic ablations pose some biosafety risks resulting from their specifics against biosafety criteria. Hence, the magnetic ablation with a small amount of biocompatible liquid metal gallium was proposed. Firstly, with the simulation test using COMSOL Multiphysics software, the heat generation mechanism based on the criteria of electromagnetic biosafety was founded by the induction of the eddy current in the surface of metal gallium. Secondly, the metal gallium and the alternative-current-induction heating machine were applied for phantoms of the in-vitro tests and for rat livers or leg muscles of the in-vivo tests. Here, the infrared camera or fiber sensors were used for temperature measurement, and ultrasound, X-ray, or MRI was done for gallium positioning or tissue evaluation. The thermal performances were shown by the necrosis live livers around 3 cm in diameter and by the darkened muscle nearby arteries/vein in 20 and 40 seconds, separately. The metal gallium expressed the rich imaging compatibilities, the low interference with the tissue ablation, and the stable retention in normal tissue for at least 3 days. Thirdly, with different acid solutions, it took 21 days that the metal gallium in pH value around 5 as the imitated tumor environments showed the self-degradation into oxidations. In sum, the magnetic ablation using self-degradation metal gallium achieved the wireless, biosafe, and efficient heating ablation.