Multifunctional Magnetic Nanostructures for Cancer Hyperthermia Therapy

Current treatments for various types of cancers can be headed under chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and tumor extirpation. These approaches have the potential to save lives; but they fail to exterminate the disease. Additionally, the unavoidable side effects of these treatments make a patient's life insufferable. Attempts should be made for better kinds of treatments that improve a patient's quality of life. Toward this end, local treatment of tumors by heating them at high temperatures could be successful. Exposing tumors for hyperthermic effect using magnetic nanoparticles is a relatively new method used for cancer therapy. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are inserted into the bloodstream so that they bind to the cancerous cells and possibly kill them by increasing their temperature to about 40-46°C. The underlying principle behind this kind of treatment is that an alternating magnetic field is applied, which generates heat by different heat loss mechanisms so the generated heat destroys the cancer cells.