title: Photothermal lesions in soft tissue induced by optical fiber microheaters.
abstract: Photothermal therapy has shown to be a promising technique for local treatment of tumors. However, the main challenge for this technique is the availability of localized heat sources to minimize thermal damage in the surrounding healthy tissue. In this work, we demonstrate the use of optical fiber microheaters for inducing thermal lesions in soft tissue. The proposed devices incorporate carbon nanotubes or gold nanolayers on the tips of optical fibers for enhanced photothermal effects and heating of ex vivo biological tissues. We report preliminary results of small size photothermal lesions induced on mice liver tissues. The morphology of the resulting lesions shows that optical fiber microheaters may render useful for delivering highly localized heat for photothermal therapy.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico; Posgrado de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Reinher
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pimentel-Domínguez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moreno-Álvarez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hautefeuille
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Anahí
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chavarría
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hernández-Cordero
keywords: (060.2310) Fiber optics; (160.4236) Nanomaterials; (170.1020) Ablation of tissue; (230.2285) Fiber devices and optical amplifiers; (310.6845) Thin film devices and applications; (350.5340) Photothermal effects