Electro-Thermal Therapy Algorithms and Active Internal Electrode Cooling Reduce Thermal Injury in High Frequency Pulsed Electric Field Cancer Therapies

Thermal tissue injury is an unintended consequence in current irreversible electroporation treatments due to the induction of Joule heating during the delivery of high voltage pulsed electric fields. In this study active temperature control measures including internal electrode cooling and dynamic energy delivery were investigated as a process for mitigating thermal injury during treatment. Ex vivo liver was used to examine the extent of thermal injury induced by 5000 V treatments with delivery rates up to five times faster than current clinical practice. Active internal cooling of the electrode resulted in a 36% decrease in peak temperature vs. non-cooled control treatments. A temperature based feedback algorithm (electro-thermal therapy) was demonstrated as capable of maintaining steady state tissue temperatures between 30 and 80 degrees C with and without internal electrode cooling. Thermal injury volumes of 2.6 cm(3) were observed for protocols with 60 degrees C temperature set points and electrode cooling. This volume reduced to 1.5 and 0.1 cm(3) for equivalent treatments with 50 degrees C and 40 degrees C set points. Finally, it was demonstrated that the addition of internal electrode cooling and active temperature control algorithms reduced ETT treatment times by 84% (from 343 to 54 s) vs. non-cooled temperature control strategies with equivalent thermal injury volumes.

Automated summary

This study investigated active temperature control measures, such as internal electrode cooling and dynamic energy delivery, to mitigate thermal tissue injury during irreversible electroporation treatments. Results showed that active internal cooling of the electrode and temperature-based feedback algorithm could effectively reduce thermal injury volumes and treatment times.