Mild Focused Ultrasound-Induced Microscopic Heating of Nanoparticles Observed by Lanthanide Luminescence for Precise Sonothermal Cancer Therapy

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a recognized tool that can be used clinically for the thermal ablation of tumors. However, excessive heat can cause side effects on the ultrasound transmission path and normal tissues around the tumor. To address the issue, this work detected for the first time the effect of microscopic heating of nanoparticles under the action of FUS through the luminescence intensity ratio (LIR) and luminescence lifetime of temperature-responsive lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. When FUS is applied to the tissue embedded with nanoparticles, the increase in the microscopic temperature of the nanoparticles synchronously monitored by LIR is more obvious than the increase in the macroscopic temperature. Based on this phenomenon, the intensity of focused ultrasound can be finely regulated to avoid overheating while ensuring a therapeutic effect. This work achieves the measurement of the microscopic heating of nanoparticles under FUS, which is of great significance for the development of sonothermal cancer therapy.