ELECTROCHEMOTHERAPY WITH CISPLATIN - POTENTIATION OF LOCAL CISPLATIN ANTITUMOR EFFECTIVENESS BY APPLICATION OF ELECTRIC PULSES IN CANCER-PATIENTS

This study was aimed at assessing the response to electrochemotherapy with cisplatin of cutaneous tumour nodules in patients with malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. In 4 patie nts, 30 tumour nodules of different sizes were treated; five without t reatment, one with electric pulses, five with cisplatin injected intra tumorally and 19 with electrochemotherapy, i.e. intratumoral administr ation of cisplatin followed by delivery of electric pulses to the tumo ur nodule. After 4 weeks, a complete response (CR) in all 19 electroch emotherapy treated nodules was obtained. All electrochemotherapy treat ed nodules remained in CR (range 7-11 months), regardless of histologi cal type, except for the metastasis of a squamous cell carcinoma that progressed after 9 months. CR was also obtained in two of five tumour nodules treated with cisplatin intratumorally, but the other three nod ules progressed within 3-7 months. Exposure of the tumour nodule to el ectric pulses without cisplatin treatment had no effect on tumour grow th. Electrochemotherapy was well tolerated by all patients and a good cosmetic effect was obtained, with only minimal scarring and a slight depigmentation of the skin. Electrochemotherapy with cisplatin has pro ved to be effective in patients with cutaneous tumour nodules. Further more, electrochemotherapy is easy to perform and can be carried out on an out-patient basis. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.