Real-Time Impedance Monitoring During Electroporation Processes in Vegetal Tissue Using a High-Performance Generator

Abstract

Classical application of electroporation is carried out by using fixed protocols that do not clearly assure the complete ablation of the desired tissue. Nowadays, new methods that pursue the control of the treatment by studying the change in impedance during the applied pulses as a function of the electric field are being developed. These types of control seek to carry out the treatment in the fastest way, decreasing undesired effects and treatment time while ensuring the proper tumour ablation. The objective of this research is to determine the state of the treatment by continuously monitoring the impedance by using a novel versatile high-voltage generator and sensor system. To study the impedance dynamics in real time, the use of pulses of reduced voltage, below the threshold of reversible electroporation, is tested to characterise the state-of-the-treatment without interfering with it. With this purpose, a generator that provides both low voltage for sense tissue changes and high voltage for irreversible electroporation (IRE) was developed. In conclusion, the characterisation of the effects of electroporation in vegetal tissue, combined with the real-time monitoring of the state-of-the-treatment, will enable the provision of safer and more effective treatments.

Keywords

• irreversible electroporation
• pulse generators
• biologic tissue