(599bp) Investigation of the Effect of Electro-Chemotherapy on Tumor Cell Death Using the Thermofield® Technology

Delivering drugs to tumors remains a formidable challenge due to the bio barriers created by tumor microenvironments. One way to overcome these barriers is by using applied electrical fields. Hyperthermia, the technique of increasing the temperature of tumor tissue to 40–43°C and is applied as an adjuvant therapy with other cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy (P Wust et al, The Lancet Oncology, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2002, Pages 487-497, ISSN 1470-2045) Recently, the Thermofield ® technology, a novel hyperthermia method using electrical fields has shown an 80% success rate in 350 veterinary patients. The goal of this research is to use mathematical modeling to predict the electrical field distribution and fraction of tumor killed due to the therapy.

Here a heat transfer model using the Pennes bio heat transfer function as a plant model, will be presented. It has been formulated for a conduction dominated regime with applied electrical field in a multi thermal conductivity system. The results of this model will not only predict the depth of the tissue heating but also the effect of electrical field on tumor cell death.