Multi-Electrode Architecture Modeling and Optimization for Homogeneous Electroporation of Large Volumes of Tissue

Borja López-Alonso, Héctor Sarnago, José M. Burdío, Pablo Briz and Oscar Lucía
Additional contact information
Borja López-Alonso: Department Electronic Engineering and Communications, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/María de Luna, 1-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Héctor Sarnago: Department Electronic Engineering and Communications, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/María de Luna, 1-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
José M. Burdío: Department Electronic Engineering and Communications, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/María de Luna, 1-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Pablo Briz: Department Electronic Engineering and Communications, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/María de Luna, 1-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Oscar Lucía: Department Electronic Engineering and Communications, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/María de Luna, 1-50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Electroporation is a phenomenon that consists of increasing the permeability of the cell membrane by means of high-intensity electric field application. Nowadays, its clinical application to cancer treatment is one of the most relevant branches within the many areas of electroporation. In this area, it is essential to apply homogeneous treatments to achieve complete removal of tumors and avoid relapse. It is necessary to apply an optimized transmembrane potential at each point of the tissue by means of a homogenous electric field application and appropriated electric field orientation. Nevertheless, biological tissues are composed of wide variety, heterogeneous and anisotropic structures and, consequently, predicting the applied electric field distribution is complex. Consequently, by applying the parallel-needle electrodes and single-output generators, homogeneous and predictable treatments are difficult to obtain, often requiring several repositioning/application processes that may leave untreated areas. This paper proposes the use of multi-electrode structure to apply a wide range of electric field vectors to enhance the homogeneity of the treatment. To achieve this aim, a new multi-electrode parallel-plate configuration is proposed to improve the treatment in combination with a multiple-output generator. One method for optimizing the electric field pattern application is studied, and simulation and experimental results are presented and discussed, proving the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Keywords: electroporation; finite element methods; electromagnetic fields (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/1892/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/1892/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:7:p:1892-:d:526238

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().