engleski

Analysis of tissue heating during electroporation based therapy: A 3D FEM model for plate electrodes

Electroporation based therapies (electrochemotherapy and electro gene therapy) are being investigated as new methods in molecular medicine for the introduction of foreign molecules into targeted cells in the body. For the success of electroporation based treatment it is necessary to achieve high enough electric field in the target tissue in order to permeabilize the cells, and at the same time to avoid excessive tissue heating caused by the Joule effect. Therefore pulse delivery protocols have to be optimized. For the analysis of electro-thermal effects during electrochemotherapy and electrotransfer of genes we developed a coupled electro-thermal model. We constructed a three-dimensional finite element model of plate electrodes and tissue. Based on the numerical simulations we analyzed the influence of tissue electrical conductivity and parameters of electric pulses (amplitude, duration, number of pulses, pulse repetition frequency) on the temperature distribution within the tissue and the electrodes. On the basis of the proposed model, electric field and temperature rise in the tissue can be predicted, thus enabling the optimization of pulse parameters with the aim to prevent thermal damage of tissue.

electroporation; Joule heating; thermo-electrical model; FEM

nije evidentirano