Active thermal imaging

Magnetic nanoparticles are small spherical particles at the size of 7-20nm, made of magnetic material (such as magnetite) and are usually coated by a biocompatible material (such as polyethylene glycol). These particles can be used in several medical applications such as drug delivery and MRI contrast enhancement. This research takes advantage of the fact that these particles are producing heat when subjected to an alternating magnetic field ("AMF"). The heating is a result of two dominant thermal losses : Brownian losses and Neellosses .Brownian losses is a term used for heat generation by friction as a result of mechanical rotation of the particles caused by the AMF. Neellosses is a term used for heat generation by rotation of the magnetic moment caused by the AMF. Other effects such as "Hysteresis losses" and "Eddy current" are negligible in this particles size range . MNP can be targeted to cancerous tumors by using antibody targeting technique. The particles are small enough to diffuse out from the blood vessel and into the surrounding tissue. Each particle can have several antibodies attached to it, these antibodies are specific to a certain antigen present on the tumor surface. As a result once these particles are introduced to blood stream, they specifically accumulate at the tumor site. There were several studies that have demonstrated such targeted delivery of MNP to several types of cancerous tumors, including: breast cancer tumors, renal cell carcinoma tumors and Galioma tumors.