-----Gold nanostars obviate limitations to laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) for the treatment of intracranial tumors.

PURPOSE: Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is an effective minimally-invasive treatment option for intracranial tumors. Our group produced plasmonics-active gold nanostars (GNS) designed to preferentially accumulate within intracranial tumors and amplify the ablative capacity of LITT.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The impact of GNS on LITT coverage capacity was tested in ex vivo models utilizing clinical LITT equipment and agarose gel-based phantoms of control and GNS-infused central "tumors". In vivo accumulation of GNS and amplification of ablation were tested in murine intracranial and extracranial tumor models followed by IV GNS injection, PET/CT, two-photon photoluminescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), histopathology, and laser ablation.

RESULTS: Monte Carlo simulations demonstrated the potential of GNS to accelerate and specify thermal distributions. In ex vivo cuboid tumor phantoms, the GNS-infused phantom heated 5.5x faster than the control. In a split-cylinder tumor phantom, the GNS-infused border heated 2x faster and the surrounding area was exposed to 30% lower temperatures, with margin conformation observed in a model of irregular GNS distribution. In vivo, GNS preferentially accumulated within intracranial tumors on PET/CT, two-photon photoluminescence, and ICP-MS at 24 and 72 hours and significantly expedited and increased the maximal temperature achieved in laser ablation compared to control.

CONCLUSION: Our results provide evidence for use of GNS to improve the efficiency and potentially safety of LITT. The in vivo data support selective accumulation within intracranial tumors and amplification of laser ablation, and the GNS-infused phantom experiments demonstrate increased rates of heating, heat contouring to tumor borders, and decreased heating of surrounding regions representing normal structures.