Clinical applications of electrochemotherapy

Electrochemotherapy is a novel treatment which consists of a combination of a chemotherapeutic agent and pulsed electric fields. This relatively new t reatment modality relies on the physical effects of locally applied electri c fields to temporarily destabilize cell membranes in the presence of a dru g to allow increased uptake of the agent into the cytosol. Electrochemother apy has been used effectively in preclinical and clinical studies. The ther apy was shown to be effective regardless of histologic type of tumor includ ing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and Kaposi's sarcoma. Objective response rates ranging from 72 percent to 100 percent have been reported from these trials. These respo nses were obtained with minimal adverse side effects. A review of the clini cal data for this novel drug delivery method is presented. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B,V. All rights reserved.