Electrothermal Tumor Ablation With Temperature-Guided Pulse Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing treatments for cell proliferative diseases, such as surgical intervention, radiation, and chemotherapy, are not highly effective for all types of tumors and often cause significant side effects or collateral damage, making them unsuitable for inaccessible tumors or organs that do not regenerate.
Innovation Solution
Electrothermal therapy (ETT) using ultra-short duration high-voltage electrical pulses to induce mild hyperthermia and permeabilize or rupture cell membranes, combined with temperature-controlled energy delivery to achieve targeted tissue ablation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surgical intervention is used to remove solid tumors, then the tumor can be physically removed, but substantial physical damage is caused to the patient requiring extensive recuperation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical surgical excision with electrical pulse delivery system. Electrodes deliver controlled electrical pulses to the tumor tissue, causing cell membrane destabilization and ablation without mechanical cutting or physical removal, thereby eliminating substantial physical damage to surrounding tissues
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and parameters of tumor tissue through controlled electrical pulse delivery. By adjusting pulse duration, voltage, and frequency parameters, the system achieves selective tumor ablation while preserving surrounding healthy tissue, avoiding the physical trauma inherent in surgical intervention
2Reliability
If radiation is used to kill tumor cells, then the aberrant cell mass is destroyed, but collateral damage is caused to surrounding tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies electrical pulses locally to the tumor region through inserted electrodes. The electric field is concentrated within the target tissue volume, creating localized cell membrane destabilization only in the treated area, while surrounding healthy tissues receive minimal to no electrical exposure, thus avoiding collateral damage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces electrodes as intermediaries to deliver electrical energy directly to the tumor. These electrodes act as localized mediators that confine the electrical field within the target volume, preventing radiation-like scatter and collateral exposure to surrounding healthy tissues
3Reliability
If chemotherapy is used to treat tumors, then the aberrant cells are exposed to toxic chemicals, but systemic damage is caused to the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the treatment effect from systemic circulation and delivers it locally through inserted electrodes. By placing electrodes directly in or near the tumor, the electrical pulse energy is delivered exclusively to the target tissue, eliminating the systemic distribution of toxic chemicals throughout the body
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces chemical therapy with physical electrical pulse delivery. Instead of introducing toxic chemicals that circulate systemically, the system uses controlled electrical fields to achieve tumor ablation, eliminating systemic chemical exposure while maintaining localized therapeutic effect
4Reliability
If Irreversible Electroporation is used to ablate soft tissue, then the targeted tissue is killed, but the treatment may not be effective for all types of cell proliferative diseases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic control of electrical pulse parameters including duration, voltage, frequency, and waveform. This dynamic adjustment allows optimization of treatment parameters for different tissue types and disease states, enabling the system to adapt to various cell proliferative diseases while maintaining effective ablation of the targeted tissue
Solution Approach 2:
The patent systematically varies electrical pulse parameters (duration from microseconds to milliseconds, voltage amplitude, pulse frequency, and waveform shape) to match different tissue characteristics and disease types. This parameter flexibility enables broad applicability across various cell proliferative diseases while maintaining precise control over the ablation process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
ETT enables precise and efficient ablation of tumors in inaccessible locations with reduced side effects, allowing for the treatment of tumors in organs that do not regenerate and minimizing muscle contractions and collateral damage.
Implementation Method 1
electrothermal therapy (ETT) includes inserting one or more electrodes into a target tissue, selecting a pulse waveform for a plurality of electrical pulses, and delivering to the target tissue the plurality of electrical pulses having the selected pulse waveform
Implementation Method 2
These pulses permanently destabilize the cell membranes of the targeted tissue (e.g., tumor), thereby killing the cells
Data Source
AI summary
A method for performing electrothermal therapy (ETT) includes inserting one or more electrodes into a target tissue, inserting one or more temperature sensors into the target tissue, selecting a pulse waveform for a plurality of electrical pulses, and delivering to the target tissue the plurality of electrical pulses having the selected pulse waveform through the one or more electrodes, wherein a delay between ones of the plurality of electrical pulses is selected based on a temperature reading from the one or more temperature sensors.