An Enhanced Electroporator Design for Pulse Generation

S Pachamuthu,D Najumnissa,R P Ramachandran,K Sankaranarayanan

doi:10.48084/etasr.4309

Abstract

An electroporator is an instrument used for delivering electrical pulses to a tumor. In this work, an electroporator consisting of three main system blocks, namely High Voltage (HV) source, nanosecond (ns) switching, and pulse generation, was designed, developed, and evaluated to generate high voltage ns pulses to treat tumors. The high-voltage source block was used to convert the 9.6V DC from the battery to a variable HV output and store this charge for later use. The ns switching block contained a MOSFET-based low-side switch which applies short ns pulses to the load. The pulse generation block generates short ns pulses and supplies the adequate current to turn on the MOSFET at a quicker rate aiding the application of these pulses to the load. This process was simulated using PSpice software and the results are presented.

Highlights

Cancer is the second most lethal disease, as it is responsible for almost the 13% of all human deaths
Pulse generator: A logic-based Programmable Integrated Circuit (PIC) controller was used for creating the ns pulses using a program written in mikroC, converted into hex code, and loaded to the microcontroller
This technique provides knowledge on the permeability and the changes that occur while electric pulses are delivered to the cell membrane [10]

Summary

Introduction

Cancer is the second most lethal disease, as it is responsible for almost the 13% of all human deaths. Irreversible electroporation is the process where longer and high-intensity pulses are applied breaking down the cell membrane irreversibly [2]. It is feasible to electroporate using very brief and very strong electric pulses [4]. The electroporator instrument consists of a pulse generator and an electrode for delivering the pulse to the tumor's location. The pulse generator produces an electric pulse of predetermined magnitude, width, and frequency. The ns switching block is a low-side switch with a MOSFET that sends brief ns pulses to the load. The pulse generation block generates the ns pulses and provides sufficient current to turn the MOSFET on quickly enough to deliver them to the load

Methods

Results

Conclusion