Biomedical Engineers Destroy Cancer Cells with Electric Pulses

Filed in archive Diagnostics, Methodologies and Instrumentation on July 16, 2007

Virginia Tech and UC-Berkeley biomedical engineers have joined forces in the development of a novel minimally invasive method of treating cancer.

The process called irreversible electroporation (IRE) was invented by Rafael V. Davalos of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES) and Boris Rubinsky of the University of California, Berkeley.

According to Dr. Davalos:

"IRE removes tumors by irreversibly opening tumor cells through a series of short intense electric pulses from small electrodes placed in or around the body.

This application creates permanent openings in the pores in the cells of the undesirable tissue. The openings eventually lead to the death of the cells without the use of potentially harmful chemotherapeutic drugs."

Clinical trials on individuals with prostate cancer using IRE is anticipated to commence soon.

Find more details from the full report.

[In Photo: Rafael V. Davalos is a member of the team of biomedical engineers who developed a new minimally invasive method for treating cancer. (Credit: Image courtesy of Virginia Tech)]