Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic has installed the first magnetic nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia machine in the U.S.
The installation was completed in November and the first patient was treated with the machine as part of a clinical trial in December, according to a Feb. 17 news release from Mayo Clinic.
During treatment, researchers intravenously administer magnetic nanoparticles containing iron oxide, which collect in cancer tumors. The hyperthermia machine then produces electromagnetic waves to heat and destroy cancer cells.
Mayo Clinic researchers are investigating the therapy in patients with metastatic solid tumors located anywhere in the body except the brain. The machine enables physicians to treat multiple tumors simultaneously, the release said.
“We aim for hyperthermia to be the fourth leg of cancer treatment, giving us a different angle to attack cancer and help patients,” Scott Lester, MD, a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in the release.
The machine and nanoparticles were manufactured by New Phase.
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