(251f) Meso-Microscopic Analysis of Chemo-Electro-Thermotherapy in Capillary Systems

Electrical field-based technology has been proposed and is used to advance many areas in the medical field. This field of study includes radiology or imaging, neurology, and recently drug delivery, including the field of oncology. Electrochemotherapy is a novel application of this technology that is in need of additional investigation to further conduct effective product design and development within the field. Electrochemotherapy specifically involves the use of a systemic or intratumoral drug injection in conjunction with an electrically generated impulse applied to the specific site of growth. In this effort, a series of fundamental mathematical models will be developed to analyze the role of electrical fields, Joule heating, and interstitial pressure. This main contribution of this work will be to better understand the effects of the order magnitude of the applied electrical field and drug concentration gradient across a capillary bed. This will allow further understanding of drug delivery for the treatment and prognosis of malignant growths. This bio-micro-transport phenomena approach, at the capillary network level, will be followed by computer simulations and data analysis.