Title :
Electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields in oncology
Author :
van Rhoon, Gerard C.
Author_Institution :
Dept. Radiat. Oncology, Erasmus MC Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
fDate :
Oct. 29 2012-Nov. 1 2012
Abstract :
Electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields have a wide application in medicine for both therapy and diagnostics. In oncology several treatments have been developed on specifically exploiting the characteristic interaction of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields with tissue. Electroporation, thermal ablation and hyperthermia are treatments that are used alone or in combination with the existing treatments. Irreversible electroporation and thermal ablation can be used as a single treatment and induce direct cell killing through permanent permeabilization of the tumor cell membrane or by killing the tumor cells by coagulating at high temperatures (>;50°C for 4-6 min.), respectively. Hyperthermia and electrochemotherapy are, in contrast, always applied as part of a multi-modality therapy. Both hyperthermia and reversible electroporation are used to sensitize tumor cells for radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. The combined treatment results in an enhanced effectiveness. i.e. increased cell kill, of the (hypoxic) tumor cells that are not killed by radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
Keywords :
biological effects of fields; cellular biophysics; electric fields; electromagnetic fields; hyperthermia; magnetic fields; patient diagnosis; radiation therapy; tumours; biological tissue; direct cell killing; electric fields; electrochemotherapy; electromagnetic fields; high temperature coagulation; hyperthermia; irreversible electroporation; medical diagnostics; medicine; multimodality therapy; oncology; radiotherapy; thermal ablation; tumor cell membrane permeabilization; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Electromagnetic fields; Heating; Hyperthermia; Tumors;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Conference (EuMC), 2012 42nd European
Conference_Location :
Amsterdam
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2215-7
Electronic_ISBN :
978-2-87487-026-2