A 3D Microfluidic Tumor Construct to Determine Transport and Photothermal Properties of Single Walled Nanohorns

Photothermal therapy is a cancer treatment that utilizes light energy to deposit specific amounts of heat to effectively kill cells in a specified tumor region. While Hyperthermia has been widely used for centuries as a treatment option for a variety of diseases, Localized Hyperthermia, as seen in photothermal therapies, has seen a rapid increase in use as a cancer treatment due to its non-invasive nature, low cost, simplicity, and reduced complications as compared to other currently available resection options [1]. The inclusion of nanoparticles that are capable of intense absorption in a specific wavelength band allows for higher selectivity of this thermal dose based upon the location of the delivered nanoparticles through both the additional absorption of laser energy, which gets deposited as heat, in the desired location containing the photoabsorbers and by lowering the amount of energy or power of the laser necessary to affect the region of interest, thus lowering the energy applied to the non-desired thermal damage region.