Pulsed AC Tumor Electrodes for Calcium Uptake Without Thermal Damage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electroporation-based tumor treatments are invasive, limited to localized tumors, and ineffective due to high electric field magnitudes that cause thermal damage and unsought electrostimulation, failing to target dispersed tumors effectively.
Innovation Solution
A device delivering pulsed AC electric fields with moderate amplitudes and frequencies between 10 kHz and 1 MHz, inducing extracellular calcium uptake in tumor cells while minimizing harm to healthy cells, using electrodes and a generator to apply fields for at least two hours, with duty cycles between 0.001% and 10%, and incorporating features like amplitude modulation and electrode arrangements to enhance treatment efficacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high-intensity electric fields are applied to induce electroporation in tumor cells, then cell membrane permeability increases and cell death is achieved, but thermal damage and unsought electrostimulation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic pulsed electric fields with duty cycles between 0.001% and 10%, where the field is applied in brief bursts followed by longer rest periods. This periodic action allows cumulative calcium uptake in tumor cells over extended treatment periods (at least 2 hours) while preventing thermal accumulation and unsought electrostimulation, as the tissue has time to cool and recover between pulses
Solution Approach 2:
The patent fundamentally changes the parameters of electric field application: using moderate amplitudes (10-500 V/cm) instead of high intensities, extended durations (at least 2 hours) instead of brief exposures, and specific frequency ranges (10 kHz to 1 MHz) to achieve calcium-selective uptake. These parameter changes enable tumor cell eradication through calcium overload without causing thermal damage or unwanted electrostimulation
2Reliability
If focal electroporation therapies are used to treat localized tumors, then tumor cells are destroyed, but dispersed tumors cannot be treated simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal treatment system that can simultaneously address multiple dispersed tumors throughout the body. By using non-invasive surface electrodes and whole-body pulsed electric field delivery, the system treats any tumor location without requiring invasive procedures, making it adaptable to both localized and metastatic cancer scenarios
3Reliability
If invasive electroporation procedures are used to deliver electric fields, then localized tumor treatment is achieved, but treatment complexity and invasiveness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the invasive needle electrodes from the treatment system and replaces them with non-invasive surface electrodes. This removes the harmful invasive component while preserving the therapeutic effect through whole-body pulsed electric field delivery, significantly reducing treatment complexity and patient discomfort
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
The device effectively eradicates or slows down tumor progression by enhancing cellular membrane permeability and calcium uptake, disrupting tumor vasculature, and allowing non-local treatment of multiple tumors with minimal invasiveness and reduced thermal risk.
Implementation Method 1
Electroporation (EP) is the phenomenon by which cell membrane permeability to ions and molecules is non-selectively increased when the cell is exposed to a high-intensity electric field
Implementation Method 2
Calcium electroporation (CaEP): understood as a subclass of ECT in which, instead of using chemotherapeutic chemical agents, calcium solutions are employed. Cell death is induced after electroporation because supraphysiological concentrations of calcium are forced into the cells
Implementation Method 3
The delivery of alternating electrical currents to produce heating in order to thermally destroy tumors (thermal ablation) or to increase the effectiveness of pharmacological or radiotherapy treatments by mild warming (adjuvant hyperhyperthermia)
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a device (1) for selectively eradicating and/or for slowing down the progression of tumors (2) comprising a plurality of electrodes (3) connected to an AC generator (4), wherein the electrodes (3) are adapted to encompass a region (5) of a subject's body comprising one or more tumors (2), and wherein the AC generator (4) is adapted to supply pulsed AC electric fields comprising a fundamental frequency between 10 kHz and 1 MHz, an amplitude between 10 V/cm and 500 V/cm and duty cycles between 0.001 % and 10%. Furthermore, the AC generator (4) is adapted to supply continuously the pulsed AC electric fields during a period of at least two hours, which induces sufficient extracellular calcium uptake as to kill or to slow down the growth and replication of cancerous cells.