Title:Scope of Nanotechnology-based Radiation Therapy and Thermotherapy Methods in Cancer Treatment
VOLUME: 12 ISSUE: 8
Author(s):Mohamadreza K. Bakht, Mahdi Sadeghi, Milad Pourbaghi-Masouleh and Claudio Tenreiro
Affiliation:Department of Medical Radiation Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Keywords:Cancer treatment, nanotechnology, radiation therapy, thermotherapy
Abstract:The main aim of nanomedicine is to revolutionize the health care system and find effective approaches to
fighting fatal diseases. Therapeutic beams, which are employed in radiation therapy, do not discriminate between normal
and cancerous cells and must rely on targeting the radiation beams to specific cells. Interestingly, the application of
nanoscale particles in radiation therapy has aimed to improve outcomes in radiation therapy by increasing toxicity in
tumors and reducing it in normal tissues. This review focuses on approaches to nanotechnology-based cancer radiation
therapy methods such as radionuclide therapy, photodynamic therapy, and neutron capture therapy. Moreover, we have
investigated nanotechnology-based thermotherapy methods, including hyperthermia and thermoablation, as non-ionizing
modalities of treatment using thermal radiation. The results strongly demonstrate that nanotechnology-based cancer
radiation therapy and thermotherapy methods hold substantial potential to improve the efficacy of anticancer radiation and
thermotherapy modalities.
