SYST-17 GOLD NANOSTARS ENHANCE THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF LASER INTERSTITIAL THERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF INTRACRANIAL TUMORS

Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is a minimally-invasive technique for the treatment of intracranial tumors that uses a stereotactically-guided laser for ablation. Magnetic resonance thermal imaging is used to monitor ablation progress by measuring the cumulative heat energy exposure in both the tumor and the surrounding tissue to calculate thermal damage thresholds.Previous applications of GNS in laser ablation of tumors have studied extracranial tumors only and utilized externally administered near infrared radiation that cannot penetrate the cranial compartment. Herein, we present a novel platform for employing GNS in intracranial tumors. We developed GNS that exhibit maximum photothermal effects at the 1064 nm laser wavelength used in the FDA-approved clinical Neuroblate® LITT system. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that our GNS can accelerate and focus thermal energy distributions. Using ex vivo tumor phantom models, GNS-infused phantoms demonstrate more rapid heating, expanded ablation zones, and improved margin conformation, with surrounding areas exposed to lower temperatures than controls. In in vivo intracranial tumor models, we show that GNS selectively accumulate and are retained in CT2A glioma and B16F0 melanoma tumors at 24 and 72 hours post-injection. Using our in vivo heterotopic CT2A model, we demonstrate that systemically-delivered GNS dramatically augment laser ablation, with higher temperatures achieved in the tumor and more efficient temperature ramping. These results support the ability of GNS to optimize LITT for the treatment of intracranial tumors by improving the efficiency and safety of this platform.