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Abstract
Enhanced local control of disease in lung cancer has been shown to improve survival, and controlled clinical trials of hyperthermia adjunctive to radiotherapy in other cancers have shown improved disease control and survival over radiotherapy alone. The challenge of lung hyperthermia, however, persists. This investigation sought to demonstrate the feasibility of localized lung hyperthermia at depth via therapeutic ultrasound. The method is based on using breathable perfluorochemical liquids as acoustic coupling media in the lung, liquids that have also been shown to enable controlled liquid-filled lung convective hyperthermia (LCHT). The ability to use both lung convective hyperthermia and liquid-filled lung ultrasound hyperthermia (LUHT) provides potential flexibility in heating patterns for the hyperthermic treatment of lung cancer with concurrent radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Using custom ultrasound transducers designed and built for these studies, the acoustic properties of three candidate perfluorochemicals were characterized over a range of temperatures, gas contents and ultrasound frequencies and acoustic intensities. Both sound speed and attenuation were measured in the neat liquids and in isolated lungs filled with the perfluorochemicals. Successful ultrasound hyperthermia at depth was demonstrated in vivo in sheep lung lobes in intraoperative conditions. In addition, the use of ultrasound diagnostic imaging was explored as a tool for use in conjunction with lung ultrasound hyperthermia.