Magnetic Hyperthermia in Glioblastoma Multiforme Treatment

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents one of the most critical oncological diseases in neurological practice, being considered highly aggressive with a dismal prognosis. At a worldwide level, new therapeutic methods are continuously being researched. Magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) has been investigated for more than 30 years as a solution used as a single therapy or combined with others for glioma tumor assessment in preclinical and clinical studies. It is based on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) that are injected into the tumor, and, under the effect of an external alternating magnetic field, they produce heat with temperatures higher than 42 °C, which determines cancer cell death. It is well known that iron oxide nanoparticles have received FDA approval for anemia treatment and to be used as contrast substances in the medical imagining domain. Today, energetic, efficient MNPs are developed that are especially dedicated to MHT treatments. In this review, the subject’s importance will be emphasized by specifying the number of patients with cancer worldwide, presenting the main features of GBM, and detailing the physical theory accompanying the MHT treatment. Then, synthesis routes for thermally efficient MNP manufacturing, strategies adopted in practice for increasing MHT heat performance, and significant in vitro and in vivo studies are presented. This review paper also includes combined cancer therapies, the main reasons for using these approaches with MHT, and important clinical studies on human subjects found in the literature. This review ends by describing the most critical challenges associated with MHT and future perspectives. It is concluded that MHT can be successfully and regularly applied as a treatment for GBM if specific improvements are made.