Theoretical considerations in relation to the treatment of brain tumours by means of local hyperthermia generated by ultrasound fields.
Brain tumours comprise a significant fraction of all tumours in the human body. Despite the development of technology in clinical oncology, these tumours still present a difficult challenge. The margin between destruction of tumour and damage to normal tissue is narrow in the brain. The price paid for producing tissue damage outside the tumour is high in terms of quality of survival. Results of many experiments with ultrasound hyperthermia show that this new technique is successful for treating certain types of malignant tumours. In the case of brain tumours, applying focused fields should have the advantage of selectively destroying the tumour and leaving surrounding tissues intact. Previous attempts at applying ultrasound to the field of neurosurgery are reviewed. Those factors which have effects on the generation of thermal fields in brain tissues are considered in relation to the possible treatment of human brain tumours. Calculated thermal fields in a 2-D brain model generated by an applicator built in our laboratory are also presented.
Department of Bio-Medical Physics and Bio-Engineering, Aberdeen University, Foresterhill, UK.
K M
KM
Quan
D J
DJ
Watmough
J R
JR
Mallard
D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods