Magnetic Bioactive Glass Ceramics for Bone Healing and Hyperthermic Treatment of Solid Tumors

Bone tumor cases have rising on average 0.4% each year over the past decade. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy represent the mainstay of malignant bone tumors. However, these procedures are invasive and often related with strong side effects. Hyperthermia was recognized as an effective treatment of solid tumors: it consists of cancer wound temperature increase above the physiological values by means of microwave or radiofrequency devices. So, healthy cells survive, whereas cancer cells die due to coagulative necrosis or apoptosis. Moreover, generated heat is able to enhance chemotherapeutic agents' effect favoring penetration via vasodilatation. Hyperthermic heating of tissues can be performed by implantable magnetic materials heated by alternating magnetic field. Magnetic bioceramics have been developed in order to replace damaged bone tissue and at the same time provide a local treatment of tumor. They can be synthesized by melt and quenching or sol-gel process and combined with hydroxyapatite by dipcoating or ferrofluids containing iron oxide nanoparticles. Magnetic bioceramics and nanoparticles can also be exploited as filler in acrylic or calcium phosphate bone cements. All these approaches are meant to improve the current bone tumor treatments by surgeon-friendly devices capable to combine replacement of damaged bone tissue with local cancer treatment.