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Non-Surgical Treatment of Keratinocyte Skin Cancer pp 143–150Cite as

Electrochemotherapy in Treatment of Cutaneous Tumors

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Electroporation is a physical method for delivery of various molecules, such as chemothera-peutic drugs and plasmid DNA into the cells by transiently increasing permeability of the cell membrane using application of controlled external field to the cells. Electrochemotherapy is anticancer treatment that utilizes electroporation of cells to increase chemotherapeutic drug uptake, specifically at the site where electric pulses are applied. Suitable chemotherapeutic drugs for electro-chemotherapy are those with hampered transport through the plasma membrane, such as bleomycin and cisplatin. Preclinical studies have demonstrated good antitumor effectiveness of electrochemother-apy with bleomycin and cisplatin, given either intravenously or intratumorally, on different tumor and animal models. Besides antitumor effectiveness, minimal toxicity and safety of the procedure were demonstrated. Clinical studies using electrochemotherapy for treatment of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumors of different histology have demonstrated pronounced antitumor effectiveness with ~ 85% objective responses of the treated tumors. Electrochemotherapy is a new, clinically ac -knowledged method for the treatment of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumor nodules. The advantage of this therapy is its high effectiveness on tumors of different histology, simple application, minimal side effects, and the possibility of effective repetitive treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges finan-cial support from the state budget of the Slovenian Research Agency and the European Commission' s ESOPE project (QLK-2002– 02003), funded under the 5th Framework Program

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Oncology, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, Zaloska, Ljubljana, 2, 1000, Slovenia

    Gregor Sersa

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  1. Gregor Sersa
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Correspondence to Gregor Sersa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Dermatology, University of Copenhagen, Roskilde Hospital, Køgevej 7-13, Roskilde, 4000, Denmark

    Gregor B. E. Jemec

  2. Dept. Dermatology & Allergology, University of Szeged, Korányi Fasor 6, Szeged, 6720, Hungary

    Lajos Kemeny

  3. Dept. Dermatology, Marshfield Clinic, 1000 N. Oak Ave., Marshfield, WI, 54449, USA

    Donald Miech

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Sersa, G. (2010). Electrochemotherapy in Treatment of Cutaneous Tumors. In: Jemec, G.B.E., Kemeny, L., Miech, D. (eds) Non-Surgical Treatment of Keratinocyte Skin Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79341-0_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79341-0_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-79340-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-79341-0

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