FAQ about electrochemotherapy

For a horse, price is based on price of a castration.

Electrochemotherapy is used to treat many different types of tumors: sarcoids, melanomas, sarcomas, carcinomas, etc. To be fully treated, the practitioner must be able to  directly access the tumor with the electrodes.

Moreover, in human medicine, a recent review (Miklavcic, 2013) showed that electrochemotherapy is more effective on sarcomas than melanoma or carcinomas. The review also confirms that there is no difference in efficacy between intratumoral injections of cisplatin or bleomycin.

Each application of electric pulses causes a muscle contraction. These contractions can be forceful when the tumor is close to a nerve plexus.

In human medicine, local anesthesia may be sufficient when patients describe an unpleasant sensation. However, in veterinary medicine, reactions can be dangerous and general anesthesia is mandatory.

Application of an electric field in the cell responds to a mathematical formula that was developed the 1990’s. In this formula, size and shape characteristics of the cell are taken into account.

Tumor cells have a relatively homogeneous size, so they are more sensitive to electric fields than normal cells.

Moreover, once the chemotherapy is injected into the cells, these molecule stop cell division; the normal cells divide less frequently and are therefore less sensitive.

On average, a session lasts 20 minutes. The duration depends on the number and size of the lesions.

On average, for a 5cm lesion, three sessions of 20 minutes are necessary. The number of sessions depends on the number and size of the tumors, and response to the treatment.

Sessions are usually spaced two weeks apart. For palliative treatment, sessions can be performed depending on the response to the treatment; a monthly session may help to contain invasive tumor.

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