Spatial and temporal measurements of temperature and cell viability in response to nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy

Aim: Nanoparticle-enhanced photothermal therapy is a promising alternative to tumor resection. However, quantitative measurements of cellular response to these treatments are limited. This article introduces a Bimodal Enhanced Analysis of Spatiotemporal Temperature (BEAST) algorithm to rapidly determine the viability of cancer cells in vitro following photothermal therapy alone or in combination with nanoparticles. Materials & methods: To illustrate the capability of the BEAST viability algorithm, single wall carbon nanohorns were added to renal cancer (RENCA) cells in vitro and time-dependent spatial temperature maps measured with an infrared camera during laser therapy were correlated with post-treatment cell viability distribution maps obtained by cell-staining fluorescent microscopy. Conclusion: The BEAST viability algorithm accurately and rapidly determined the cell viability as a function of time, space and temperature.