A uniform thermal field in a hyperthermia chamber for microvascular studies

Hyperthermia has been the subject of much research recently as a cancer treatment. Its greatest potential lies in its combination with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Elevated temperatures have been shown to alter both tumor and normal tissue microcirculation. Changes in tissue perfusion could affect drug distribution and radiosensitivity via changes in hypoxic fraction. A thermal device using water as the heating fluid has been designed for the Arizona transparent access chamber to permit measurement of single vessel behavior in vivo at controlled temperatures. The device is made of lexan and encloses the chamber permitting fluid contact with the external window surface. The tissue temperature between the chamber's windows can be adjusted to within 0.1°C and the temperature over the surface of the tissue is uniform to ± 0.1°C. A bypass for the heating fluid permits rapid changes in tissue temperature so that simultations of clinical hyperthermia treatments can be done. A numerical simulation model correctly predicts the temperature distributions in the chamber and the design is shown to provide rapid heating of the window chamber to the desired temperature. © 1982.

Duke Scholars

Author Mark Wesley Dewhirst Radiation Oncology