The use of electromagnetic waves in therapeutic applications has existed for many decades. Nowadays, the therapies that use non-ionising radiation and are available for clinical use lie on the thermal effects of low frequency electromagnetic waves, from radio frequencies to optical frequencies. Hyperthermia and thermal ablation are currently used to treat various types of cancers, either by killing the cancerous cells or by locally and selectively enhancing the efficiency of chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation treatment. Hyperthermia treatment elevates the tissue temperature between 40 °C and 45 °C, for altering the functional and structural properties of enzymatic proteins that make tumour more sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy. Thermal …show more content…
However, the complexity and heterogeneity of human brain structure and mechanisms, such as nerve stimulation, blood circulation and homeostasis, complicates the effort for predicting the temperature rise and distribution generated by one or multiple electromagnetic sources inside the brain tissue. Nevertheless, it is of high importance to monitor and control the temperature changes during these procedures in order to minimise the severe side-effects of elevated brain temperatures for long durations. To this end, non-invasive techniques that exhibit enhanced sensitivity and specificity thermometric are required for spatial and real-time temperature monitoring.
Nanotechnology offers enhanced localisation of treatment delivery to brain diseased sites, including hyperthermia, thermal ablation, as well as chemotherapeutic drug delivery and gene therapy. The procedure may also be monitored with various ionising or non-ionising imaging modalities. Theranostics is an emerging medical field that uses nanoparticles for combining diagnosis and treatment on a single nanoscale platform.
In this paragraph, multimodal systems for thermal electromagnetic treatments and real-time temperature monitoring and/or visualisation of the anatomical area of interest are presented emphasising microwave technology. Additionally, novel approaches for combined therapy and diagnosis using non-ionising radiation in a nanoscale level are presented in the last
Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) is a genetically inherited, pharmacogenic disorder involving a severe malfunction within the skeletal muscles, causing them to be stuck in a contracted state. It is found to be triggered in susceptible patients by the administration of certain anesthetic agents during and after surgical procedures. It may also be activated by the use of other drugs, such as muscle relaxants and triggered by other circumstances such as stress, trauma, and even exercising. Not only are the muscles normal physiology affected, but abnormalities of the whole body occur disrupting its natural homeostasis. If it is not treated immediately, it can be fatal. Susceptibility is found in patients who have had a known family history of MH. In order for a medical professional or a patient to be prepared to handle MH one must understand how it affects the normal physiology of the body, what signs to look for, and how it can be diagnosed, treated, and prevented. There is no cure for MH, but there are specific drugs and precautionary measures that are used to prevent and treat it when a patient is susceptible.
Malignant Hyperthermia is primarily thought to be an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that causes a hypermetabolic state after administration of volatile anesthetics. When a patient is under anesthesia, the muscles are usually relaxed, but when a patient is experiencing Malignant Hyperthermia crisis, certain IV anesthesia causes the opposite effect. Most inhaled anesthetics other than nitrous oxide, cause or trigger Malignant Hyperthermia. More specifically, the anesthetic agents: Halothane, Chloroform, and Succinylcholine. The genic condition of Malignant Hyperthermia only becomes apparent when a patient is exposed to certain anesthetics such as halothane, which causes muscle rigidity.
Although brain surgery was the first clinical target for FUS, it provides special challenges due to the higher attenuation of ultrasound of skull bone. Also the lack of accurate targeting and energy deposition control prevented its clinical use in the central nervous system. Bone density also affect the speed of sound. If use conventional focused transducers, It would be difficult to obtain a sharp focal spot through an intact skull. Therefore for earlier clinical trials, there was always removed a part of skull bone to provide an good acoustic access to the brain. The skull problem has been solved by two key developments. And clinical brain treatment is possible now. It was discovered that using low frequency phased arrays with common element sizes can produce a sharp focus through the skull. Or the skull heating problem can be overcome by using phased array applicators with large enough surface areas. It was proved that modern medical instrument can provide enough information to allow precise focusing[31]. InSightec developed a complete system designed for clinical FUS surgery. This technique has been tested in three patients to determine the maximum intensity that could be delivered through the skull bone [29]. Three brain tumor patients in Boston proved that sharp focusing could be
American Heart Association (AHA) estimates that nearly 700 Americans die each day of sudden cardiac arrest (MI), or 250,000 every year, as many as 50,000 lives could be saved each year if certain critical interventions were made. (Freeman , 50) A patient who receives early life support measures and defibrillation within one to five minutes of arrest is much more likely to live and to retain normal brain function. The brain is often at a serious risk for irreparable brain damage related to anoxia and many other co-morbidities that are associated with cardiac arrest (MI). When a perfusing cardiac rhythm returns after a heart attack, the most important objective is to preserve brain function. The AHA and the Advanced Life Support Task Force of
Thermage treatment is dependent upon the radiofrequency to generate the heat to trigger the regeneration process of the cell underneath the skin. It also involves the cooling effect to protect the skin outside and to provide maximum
Malignant hypertension is an inherited condition. It occurs when the patient has a severe reaction caused by being exposed to certain drugs used as a part of the anesthesia for surgical procedures. It can be fatal if it is not treated quickly. In most cases, there are no signs or symptoms until the reaction occurs.
Perioperative hypothermia causes adverse effects in the recovery of a post-operative patient. These well known effects include delayed anaesthetic recovery, increased incidence and duration of postoperative ventilation, increased blood loss and transfusion requirements, increased cardiac events, increased surgical wound infection, pro-longed hospital length-of-stay (LOS) and higher hospital mortality.
When in the body, this type of radiation is even more
On 06/02/16, on the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) care was provided for a patient with induced hypothermia and re-warming status post cardiac arrest. The patient had arrived to the hospital on 06/01/16 for a planned operation. Patient went into cardiac arrest while at the operation room and was brought into the CVICU the same day. Orders for adult induced hypothermia and re-warming were made and the patient was started on this procedure. On 06/02/16 the doctor was reviewing the notes about the patient, and noticed that the process of initiating hypothermia (goal temperature 33 degrees Celsius) had taken longer than the time frame protocol stated.
Malignant hypothermia is a disease, caused by a bad reaction of anesthetics. This disease causes an immensely rapid temperature rise and extreme muscle contractions. MH (malignant hypothermia) is passed down through families and inherited by one parent carrying it giving it to the child. “Malignant hyperthermia occurs in 1 in 5,000 to 50,000 instances in which people are given anesthetic gases” (NIH, 2007). Most people aren’t aware that they are prone to this disease/reaction because they have never been under anesthesia drugs, or have never received surgery.
A 38 year old female presents for Caffeine Halothane Contracture Test (CHCT), as well as genetic testing for Malignant Hyperthermia Susceptibility (MHS). She did this because her niece died due to complications related to triggering of Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) during a surgical episode. The patient’s brother, the father of the deceased child, had a positive CHCT performed at an outside hospital. The brother also had his remaining three children tested with CHCT, with two being negative and one positive. The patient’s results turn out to be positive for MHS as determined by CHCT and the patients had a
The use of wideband microwave imaging could potentially be used to diagnose brain injuries. Brain injuries are common in today’s world and can lead to many health concerns, such as illness, disabilities, and even death. Brain injuries can come in many forms, such as contusions, strokes, tumours, infections, and diseases to name a few. Brain injuries, however, can progress over time if not monitored. This increases the demand for quick and immediate diagnosis and management for injuries. This is where the use of wideband microwave imaging comes into use. Essentially, it could provide a way to perform head imaging in a timely manner and can thus produce a treatment method for patients quickly. Imaging technologies do exist that are able to perform scans of the brain for detection of brain injuries. Some of these, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are used for the imaging of Alzheimer disease. (Johnson et al 1) But issues arise with these technologies due to their cost, time consumption, size, and lack of mobility. So development of the use of a wideband microwave imaging system could lead to various solutions to the aforementioned issues of the other technologies. For example, the wideband microwave imaging system could be developed for on the go use and could be used for constant monitoring of patients with head injuries. This is just one a few advantageous perspectives of developing a wideband microwave imaging system. This paper will
In 2007, it is predicted that almost 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (Pickle et al., 2007). More than half of these cancer patients will undergo the use of radiation as a means for treating cancer at some point during the course of their disease (Perez and Brady, 1998). Cancer, a disease caused by an uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells, affects millions of people around the world. Radiotherapy is one of the well known various methods used to treat cancer, where high powered rays are aimed directly at the tumor from the outside of the body as external radiation or an instrument is surgically placed inside the body producing a result of internal radiation. Radiation is delivered to the cancerous regions of the body to damage and destroy the cells in that area, terminating the rapid growth and division of the cells. Radiation therapy has been used by medicine as a treatment for cancer from the beginning of the twentieth century, with its earliest beginnings coming from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. With the advancements in physics and computer programming, radiation had greatly evolved towards the end of the twentieth century and made the radiation treatment more effective. Radiation therapy is a curative treatment approach for cancer because it is successful in killing cancerous tumor cells and stop them from regenerating.
During the last few Physics lessons, we learned about the different types of waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. These two main types are electromagnetic waves and sound waves. In this essay I will be explaining what gamma rays are and how they work, as well as how they function to treat brain and skull based cancer tumors through the gamma knife. I will then also be stating some advantages and disadvantages of the Gamma knife, as well as explaining how the science behind this technique interacts with the two factors social and economical. I will lastly be writing a short conclusion reviewing what I
Hypothermia and hyperthermia are very different disorders. The definition of hypothermia is the condition of having an abnormally low body temperature, typically one that is dangerously low. The definition of hyperthermia is the condition of having a body temperature greatly above normal.