A combined thermal model for transient temperature field in a tumor and ambient tissue during laser heating of embedded gold nanoparticles is developed. The approach considered is based on coupling of the particular models for the absorbed radiation power and transient temperature field. A modified two-flux approximation is used for the radiative transfer in a scattering tissue containing absorbing gold nanoshells. The spectral properties of silica-core gold nanoshells are calculated using the Mie theory. The transient energy equation for composite human tissue takes into account the metabolic heat generation and heat conduction, the heat transfer with blood perfusion through capillary tubes, the continuous or periodic laser heating, and also heat transfer of a human body with ambient medium. A simplified example problem for a superficial human cancer is solved numerically to illustrate the relative role of the problem parameters on the transient temperature field in a human body during hyperthermia treatment. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.