Physics of Thermal Therapy
Fundamentals and Clinical Applications
Imaging in Medical Diagnosis and Therapy Series

The field of thermal therapy has been growing tenaciously in the last few decades. The application of heat to living tissues, from mild hyperthermia to high-temperature thermal ablation, has produced a host of well-documented genetic, cellular, and physiological responses that are being researched intensely for medical applications, particularly for treatment of solid cancerous tumors using image guidance. The controlled application of thermal energy to living tissues has proven a great challenge, requiring expertise from multiple disciplines, thereby leading to the development of many sophisticated pre-clinical and clinical devices and treatment techniques. Physics of Thermal Therapy: Fundamentals and Clinical Applications captures the breadth and depth of this highly multidisciplinary field.

Focusing on applications in cancer treatment, this book covers basic principles, practical aspects, and clinical applications of thermal therapy. An overview of the fundamentals shows how use of controlled heat in medicine and biology involves electromagnetics, acoustics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and imaging sciences. The book discusses challenges in the use of thermal energy on living tissues and explores the genetic, cellular, and physiological responses that can be employed in the fight against cancer from the physics and engineering perspectives. It also highlights recent advances, including the treatment of solid tumors using image-guided thermal therapy, microbubbles, nanoparticles, and other cutting-edge techniques.

Foundations of Thermal Therapy Physics: Fundamentals of Bioheat Transfer. Thermal Dose Models: Irreversible Alterations in Tissues. Practical Clinical Thermometry. Physics of Electromagnetic Energy Sources. The Physics of Ultrasound Energy Sources. Numerical Modeling for Simulation and Treatment Planning of Thermal Therapy: Ultrasound. Numerical Modeling for Simulation and Treatment Planning of Thermal Therapy. Clinical Thermal Therapy Systems: External Electromagnetic Methods and Devices. Interstitial Electromagnetic Devices for Thermal Ablation. Clinical External Ultrasonic Treatment Devices. Endocavity and Catheter-Based Ultrasound Devices. Physical Aspects of Emerging Technology for Thermal Therapy: Evolving Tools for Navigated Image-Guided Thermal Cancer Therapy. Temperature Imaging Using Ultrasound. Focused Ultrasound Applications for Brain Cancer. Extracorporeal Ultrasound-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation for Cancer Patients. Using Hyperthermia to Augment Drug Delivery. Magnetic Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy. Application of Gold Nanoparticles in Laser Thermal Therapy. Thermochemical Ablation.