A low-cost electronic and optical system for magnetic hyperthermia experimental studies

Magnetic hyperthermia is an alternative to treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy that employs the heat generated by magnetic nanoparticles under the influence of a magnetic field to kill cancer cells while ideally causing no harm to healthy tissues. A low-cost magnetic hyperthermia investigation platform with commercially available and easy-to-assemble parts was presented to provide and expand research in this area for a larger scientific community. The magnetic hyperthermia measurement system consists of three main parts: a designed thermally insulated sample holder, a commercial 88 kHz magnetic induction heater, and a custom-built fiber optic based refractometer as temperature sensor. The system was tested with commercial EFH-1 magnetic fluids. Time dependent temperature changes were measured for applied magnetic fields of 3.5 kA/m, 4.8 kA/m, and 6.0 kA/m. The corresponding specific loss power values were calculated as 0.28 W/g, 0.51 W/g, and 0.79 W/g, respectively. Intrinsic loss power of commercial ferrofluid was determined as 0.25 +/- 0.01 nHm2/kg, 2 /kg, found to be comparable to the results of specialized commercial magnetic hyperthermia systems. The results show that the system can easily be used for hyperthermia demonstrations for educational purposes as well as in convenient scientific research with proper calibration.