Abstract

Conventional photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer typically utilizes an end-firing flat fiber (Flat) to deliver optical energy, leading to incomplete treatment of target cells due to a Gaussian-shaped non-uniform beam profile. The current study demonstrates a therapeutic capacity of micro-lens arrays (MLA)-assisted laser irradiation to enhance photothermal effects. Computational and experimental validations are performed on gelatin phantoms and aqueous dye solutions to compare photothermal responses of Flat and MLA. In vivo tumor-bearing mouse models are developed to evaluate a therapeutic capacity of MLA-assisted PTT. Evaluations with both phantom and aqueous solution present that the MLA-assisted laser treatment accompanies a wider and more uniform beam distribution, compared to the Flat-based treatment. The in vivo results confirme that the MLA-assisted laser treatment induced spatially-consistent tumor necrosis on account of uniform temperature distribution. The proposed MLA application can be a feasible method to help achieve the complete tumor removal without recurrence.

© 2021 The Author(s)