Electrochemotherapy in treatment of tumours

Aim: Electrochemotherapy is a local drug delivery approach aimed at treatment with palliative intent of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumour nodules of different histologies. Electrochemotherapy, via cell membrane permeabilising electric pulses, potentiates the cytotoxicity of non-permeant or poorly permeant anticancer drugs with high intrinsic cytotoxicity, such as bleomycin or cisplatin, at the site of electric pulse application. Methods: An overview of preclinical and clinical studies is presented, and the treatment procedure is further critically evaluated. Results: In clinical studies electrochemotherapy has proved to be a highly efficient and safe approach for treating cutaneous and subcutaneous tumour nodules. The treatment response for various tumours (predominantly melanoma) was similar to 75% complete and 10% partial response of the treated nodules. Conclusions: Electrochemotherapy is a new, clinically acknowledged method for the treatment-of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumours. Its advantages are high effectiveness on tumours with different histologies, simple application, minimal side effects and the possibility of effective repetitive treatment. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.