Liver cancer treatment with integration of laser emission and microwave irradiation with the aid of gold nanoparticles

Abstract

This paper studies the effectiveness of the integration of microwave field irradiation and laser emission in liver cancer therapy with the aid of gold nanorods, in order to find out the influences of these combinational methods in tumor necrosis. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a kind of liver cancer that usually has a complicated structure, including both of superficial and deep sections. In current research, in deep regions of cancerous tissue, microwave antenna is utilized and in superficial regions, laser beams are irradiated. A Pulsed laser with heating time of 50 s and cooling time of 20 s is utilized for hyperthermia treatment. It should be mentioned that gold nanorods are injected into the tumorous region to enhance the treatment process and reduce the patient’s exposure time. Simulation results showed that at the first step, without any injection of gold nanoparticles, 0.17% of the tumor’s volume encountered necrosis, while at the next stage, after injection of gold nanorods, the necrosis rate increased to 35%, which demonstrates the efficiency of gold nanorods injection on the tumor treatments. Furthermore, the combinational applying of both microwave antenna and laser illumination can eradiate the tumor tissue completely.