Photothermal Conversion Materials and Requirements for Ideal Photothermal Materials

Thermal therapy has been commonly selected for treating various tumors in a clinic for many years. Compared to traditional thermal therapy, photothermal conversion material-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) induced by laser irradiation is a novel technique for the local treatment of tumors, which has several advantages over the traditional technique, such as selective heating on tumor tissue and fewer injuries in normal tissues. The PTT technique has shown rapid development in recent years, and many photothermal materials have been found or fabricated. These materials originate both naturally and synthetically, including organic and inorganic materials and organic/inorganic hybridized composites. For thermal therapy, the typically employed photothermal materials and the requirements of an ideal photothermal material have been discussed in this chapter. PTT-induced immunotherapy and photothermal materials combined with other therapeutic reagents for improving therapeutic efficiency have also been discussed.