Advances in magnetic resonance guided radiofrequency hyperthermia

Clinical studies have established that adjuvant mild hyperthermia significantly increases the efficacy of radio-and chemotherapy across many tumor sites. Radiofrequency hyperthermia treatment quality is usually monitored with invasive temperature sensors, which provides limited data sampling and causes infection risks. To mitigate these issues, magnetic resonance (MR) measurements can be exploited for 3D thermal dose assessment during treatment. To this end, a number of novel hardware approaches have been proposed to combine RF heating and imaging more effectively. In this work, we review the status of MR guided radiofrequency hyperthermia, including the electromagnetic inter-systems interactions. We review the various purposes of MR imaging in radiofrequency hyperthermia, and describe different hybrid hardware configurations before closing with suggested technology improvements that could accelerate clinical adoption of this technology.

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