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Tissue Ablation by a Synergistic Combination of Electroporation and Electrolysis Delivered by a Single Pulse

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Abstract

A synergistic combination of electroporation and electrolysis (SEE) has been found with distinct advantages over tissue ablation by electrolysis or electroporation alone. Minimally invasive tissue ablation by electrolysis uses a low magnitude direct electric current to produce a lesion due to the creation of chemical products that result in cell death. Electroporation creates permeabilizations in the cell membrane which may lead to loss of cell homeostasis and cell death. When these two modes of tissue ablation are combined, a more effective method of cell death is achieved, likely due to the ability of electrolytic products to access the cell interior through the permeabilized cell membrane. Here, a new method of achieving SEE tissue ablation is obtained through the application of a single exponential decay pulse. This parametric study explores the mechanisms of damage as a function of the initial electric field and amount of delivered charge. It is seen that treatment parameters can dictate the mode of tissue ablation, either by SEE or by irreversible electroporation alone.

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Acknowledgments

This project draws from earlier unpublished work by Inter Science GmbH. We also acknowledge the partial financial support from Inter Science GmbH. Inter Science GmbH had no input in the design of the experiments or the analysis of the data.

Conflict of interest

B.R. has a financial interest in Inter Science GmbH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden, CT, 06518, USA

    Mary Phillips

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94709, USA

    Hanush Krishnan & Boris Rubinsky

  3. Pathology Research Laboratory Inc and Histo Tec Laboratories, Inc., 2829 Depot Road, Suite 4, Hayward, CA, USA

    Narayan Raju

Authors
  1. Mary Phillips
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  2. Hanush Krishnan
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  3. Narayan Raju
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  4. Boris Rubinsky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Phillips.

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Associate Editor Michael Gower oversaw the review of this article.

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Phillips, M., Krishnan, H., Raju, N. et al. Tissue Ablation by a Synergistic Combination of Electroporation and Electrolysis Delivered by a Single Pulse. Ann Biomed Eng 44, 3144–3154 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1624-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1624-4

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