Author/Editor     Miklavčič, Damijan; Mali, Barbara; Kos, Bor; Heller, Richard; Serša, Gregor
Title     Electrochemotherapy: from the drawing board into medical practice
Type     članek
Vol. and No.     Letnik 13, št. 29
Publication year     2014
ISSN     1475-925X - Biomedical engineering online
Language     eng
Abstract     Electrochemotherapy is a local treatment of cancer employing electric pulses to improve transmembrane transfer of cytotoxic drugs. In this paper we discuss electrochemotherapy from the perspective of biomedical engineering and review the steps needed to move such a treatment from initial prototypes into clinical practice. In the paper also basic theory of electrochemotherapy and preclinical studies in vitro and in vivo are briefly reviewed. Following this we present a short review of recent clinical publications and discuss implementation of electrochemotherapy into standard of care for treatment of skin tumors, and use of electrochemotherapy for other targets such as head and neck cancer, deep-seated tumors in the liver and intestinal tract, and brain metastases. Electrodes used in these specific cases are presented with their typical voltage amplitudes used in electrochemotherapy. Finally, key points on what should be investigated in the future are presented and discussed.
Descriptors     Melanoma
Neoplasm metastasis
Bleomycin
Electroporation
Drug delivery systems
Treatment outcome
Therapy
Therapy
Keywords     elektroporacija
elektrokemoterapija
načrtovanje zdravljenja
globoko ležeči tumorji
melanom
electroporation
electrochemotherapy
treatmen planning
deep-seated tumors
melanoma