Glass-Ceramic-Mediated, Magnetic-Field-Induced Localized Hyperthermia: Response of a Murine Mammary Carcinoma

Hyperthermia has been found to be a useful modality for cancer therapy. In this report, a biocompatible, ferrimagnetic glass-ceramic capable of inducing localized hyperthermia by hysteresis heating upon exposure to an alternating magnetic field is presented. When the glass-ceramic was placed in the region of a subcutaneously transplanted, weakly antigenic breast carcinoma and subjected to the magnetic field, sufficient temperature rise was obtained to cause significant (∼50%) tumor regrowth delay and a 12% permanent control. The data demonstrate that glass-ceramic-mediated hysteresis heating may be a useful therapeutic approach in the treatment of cancer which offers the advantage of producing a highly localized and predictable tumor volume hyperthermia.