Medical Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles

The increased ability in manipulating matter at the nanoscale has paved the way towards the creation of a plethora of novel systems endowed with extremely appealing properties exploitable in a wide number of clinical applications, the two most prominent being, undoubtedly, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia (MFH). In this Chapter, we review a few recent examples to convey to the reader a picture of the promising role magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) may play in the medicine of the next future. After a general overview of the two techniques, we summarize the physical principles at their base to provide the reader the necessary tools to understand limits and advantages of employing MNPs as contrast agents in MRI and heat mediators in MFH. Among the countless examples of MNP-based materials proposed in the recent years for these applications, we select and report in detail some of the most representative and promising ones to underline the challenges that this branch of the material science must address to interplay with the complexity of the human body. Finally, we try to photograph the state of the art of the clinical applications, which, mainly concerning MFH, is in continuous evolution.