The use of high-frequency short bipolar pulses in cisplatin electrochemotherapy in vitro

Abstract

In electrochemotherapy (ECT), chemotherapeutics are first administered, followed by short 100 μs monopolar pulses. However, these pulses cause pain and muscle contractions. It is thus necessary to administer muscle relaxants, general anesthesia and synchronize pulses with the heart rhythm of the patient, which makes the treatment more complex. It was suggested in ablation with irreversible electroporation, that bursts of short high-frequency bipolar pulses could alleviate these problems. Therefore, we designed our study to verify if it is possible to use high-frequency bipolar pulses (HF-EP pulses) in electrochemotherapy.

Keywords

• electroporation
• electrochemotherapy
• high-frequency bipolar pulses
• cisplatin
• cell survival
• drug uptake