This engineering project tested the effectiveness of ferrofluids on a clot simulate produced with gelatin, agar, cholesterol and collagen.

Atherosclerosis is one of the most common causes of stroke and death in the United States. It involves the buildup of plaque on the interior of major veins and arteries in the body, which accumulate and calcify, leading to a total stoppage of blood flow in that area. Current plaque treatment involves bypass surgery, combined with a change in diet and lifestyle factors. This may mitigate the formation of more plaque in the bloodstream, but nothing short of surgery will remove the clot. Surgery is invasive and can cause severe complications. On another note, magnetic hyperthermia is the usage of magnetic nanoparticles under an alternating magnetic field in order to induce higher body temperatures in certain areas of the body. This technique has been used to thermoablate tumors. With that in mind, the goal of the project was to to utilize the hyperthermic properties of ferrofluids under a solenoid magnet and apply it to melting a clot.

First, a 38-inch steel tube was wrapped in 1674 coils of 26-gauge copper wire, producing a solenoid magnet with, when inputted with a 10 V amplitude, produced a maximum electrical field of 83 Kiloamperes per meter. The clot simulate was produced with a combination of gelatin (simulating the macrophages, white blood cells, and accumulated red blood cells), agar (which increased the melting point of the gelatin), and pure collagen and cholesterol. The gelatin was poured into a test tube, with a micropipette acting as a mold where ferrofluid could be inserted. Four trials were conducted in the magnet, with 1.5 mL of ferrofluid each, under a solenoid magnet alternating currents at 20 MHz, for ten minutes.

The results were quantified on three levels: heat, mass, and volume. Heat differential was measured with a thermometer before and after testing. Mass was tested by measuring the gelatin before and after the testing, as was volume. Each set of tests, when inputted into a paired T-test calculator, resulted as extremely significant. On average, the heat produced from the ferrofluids was 2.0 degrees Celsius. The change in mass, on average, was 1.39 grams per tube. The change in volume was, on average, 1.16 mL of fluid. Considering this data, the goals of this project were met; the claim that ferrofluids could break down a clot simulate was substantiated, and the efficacy rate by which the ferrofluids worked also proved to be statistically significant.