Synergistic Combination of Electrolysis and Electroporation for Tissue Ablation.

Michael K Stehling,Boris Rubinsky,Paul Mikus,Liel Rubinsky,Enric Guenther,Nina Klein,Maria Rosaria Scarfi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148317

Abstract

Electrolysis, electrochemotherapy with reversible electroporation, nanosecond pulsed electric fields and irreversible electroporation are valuable non-thermal electricity based tissue ablation technologies. This paper reports results from the first large animal study of a new non-thermal tissue ablation technology that employs “Synergistic electrolysis and electroporation” (SEE). The goal of this pre-clinical study is to expand on earlier studies with small animals and use the pig liver to establish SEE treatment parameters of clinical utility. We examined two SEE methods. One of the methods employs multiple electrochemotherapy-type reversible electroporation magnitude pulses, designed in such a way that the charge delivered during the electroporation pulses generates the electrolytic products. The second SEE method combines the delivery of a small number of electrochemotherapy magnitude electroporation pulses with a low voltage electrolysis generating DC current in three different ways. We show that both methods can produce lesion with dimensions of clinical utility, without the need to inject drugs as in electrochemotherapy, faster than with conventional electrolysis and with lower electric fields than irreversible electroporation and nanosecond pulsed ablation.

Highlights

Invasive surgery employs various tissue ablation technologies, each with their own advantages, disadvantages and specific use
Twelve lesions were produced in the liver of three pigs with a variety of Synergistic electrolysis and electroporation” (SEE) parameters and electrode placement configurations
The experimental parameters were chosen in such a way as to gain insight into the effects of the various combinations of electrolysis and electroporation on the extent of tissue ablation

Summary

Introduction

Invasive surgery employs various tissue ablation technologies, each with their own advantages, disadvantages and specific use. Electric currents passing through a biological medium produce a number of biophysical and biochemical effects which are used in tissue ablation. This study deals with the use of a combination of two different electricity driven phenomena, electrolysis and electroporation. The electrochemical reactions known as electrolysis occur at the surface of electrodes submerged in an ionic conducting media, during the passage of an electric current [1]. New chemical species are generated at the interface of the electrodes as a result of electron transfer between the electrodes and the ions in solution. The new chemical species diffuse away from the electrodes, into tissue, in a process driven by electrochemical potentials.

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