Tumor Treatment by Direct Electric Current: Computation of Electric Current and Power Density Distribution

Abstract

Electrotherapy by direct electric current was shown to have an anti-tumor effect in different animal tumor models and in clinic. Information on the current density distributions in the tumor, surrounding tissues, and its differences in the different electrode configurations used in our previous studies could be useful in future studies of electrotherapy mechanisms. Therefore, a three-dimensional, anatomically based, finite element model of the mouse with a subcutaneous tumor was built. Different types of electrotherapy, i.e., different electrode configurations, were modeled by applying appropriate boundaq conditions in the grid points. The magnitude of current density in anodic/cathodic electrotherapy is 50 times higher in the middle and 10 times higher on the edge of the tumor when compared to the “field” electrotherapy. The results of the computation show that the effects of the electrotherapy on tumor growth, which were similar in terms of tumor growth delay in all three configurations, are not directly related to the magnitude of the electric current or power density in the tumor.

Key Words:

• Electrotherapy
• Tumor growth
• Field Modeling
• Finite element analysis