Treatment planning platform for small scale hyperthermia

This collaboration between Amsterdam UMC, Med-Logix Srl and RaySearch Laboratories aims to develop a dedicated hyperthermia treatment planning platform for small scale hyperthermia in pre-clinical research.

Hyperthermia (i.e. increasing tumour temperatures to 40-43°C) is used in treatments of cancer patients to significantly enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy/chemotherapy by ~15-20%, without increasing side effects. However, the fundamental mechanisms through which hyperthermia improves outcome are not fully understood. This makes that its clinical potential is not yet optimally exploited and even higher effectiveness is possible. Preclinical research is needed to accelerate establishing optimal treatment protocols and fully unlock the clinical potential of hyperthermia. For this purpose, recently, a unique miniature hyperthermia device, the ALBA micro8, has been developed to realistically mimic human hyperthermia treatments on a small scale. Optimal use of this equipment requires a dedicated treatment planning platform, as will be developed in this project.

We will develop advanced bioheat simulation models accounting for small scale thermodynamics to accurately predict local temperatures and to optimize heat delivery on a small scale. These models will allow the ALBA micro8 to accurately deliver a specified temperature rise at exactly the desired location. This part involves mainly collaboration between Amsterdam UMC and Med-Logix. Next, these bioheat models will be combined with biological models capturing synergistic effects between hyperthermia and radiotherapy to enhance research possibilities for hyperthermia in combination with modern radiotherapy techniques and enabling to optimize the synergistic treatment combination. This part involves collaboration between all partners.

This project will deliver a dedicated accurate hyperthermia treatment planning platform for the ALBA micro8 miniature hyperthermia device that enables high-level research to significantly enhance our presently incomplete knowledge on biological working mechanisms of hyperthermia. This also enables pre-clinical research to optimize clinical treatment protocols and develop novel highly effective and tumour selective multi-modality cancer treatments.