Abstract
Electrochemotherapy is a selective electrical-based cancer treatment. A thriving treatment depends on the local electric field generated by pairs of electrodes. Electrode damage as deflection can directly affect this treatment pillar, the distribution of the electric field. Mechanical deformations such as tip misshaping and needle deflection are reported with needle electrode reusing in veterinary electrochemotherapy. We performed in vitro and in silico experiments to evaluate potential problems with ESOPE type II electrode deflection and potential treatment pitfalls. We also investigated the extent to which the electric currents of the electroporation model can describe deflection failure by comparing in vitro with the in silico model of potato tuber (Solanum tuberosum). The in silico model was also performed with the tumor electroporation model, which is more conductive than the vegetal model. We do not recommend using deflected electrodes. We have found that a deflection of ± 2 mm is unsafe for treatment. Inward deflection can cause dangerous electrical current levels when treating a tumor and cannot be described with the in silico vegetal model. Outward deflection can cause blind spots in the electric field.
Highlights
Electrochemotherapy is a selective electrical-based cancer treatment
We evaluate the electric field distribution and maximum electric current, which are technical parameters or requirements used in ECT equipment design
When performing −3 mm inward deflections, we show a device-damaging electric current
Summary
Electrochemotherapy is a selective electrical-based cancer treatment. A thriving treatment depends on the local electric field generated by pairs of electrodes. Electrode damage as deflection can directly affect this treatment pillar, the distribution of the electric field. Mechanical deformations such as tip misshaping and needle deflection are reported with needle electrode reusing in veterinary electrochemotherapy. We performed in vitro and in silico experiments to evaluate potential problems with ESOPE type II electrode deflection and potential treatment pitfalls. The entire electric field distribution on the tissue may change and compromise treatment safety and success. Inward deflection (when opposite charge needles become closer than usual) can introduce higher electric fields, higher electric current, and more undesired ablation in greater tissue extension by irreversible EP (IRE). Because the effects of EP in animal tumor tissue are not directly observable, their outcome could take days or weeks (i.e., there is no visual feedback at the time of the intervention)[20,21], it is common to study this effects using both in vitro experiments with vegetal tissue and in silico computational models
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