Effect of tissue inhomogeneity on Elec-tric field intensity for electrochemotherapy treatment

Presented in this paper isa usefulmodel to evaluate the effect of tissue inhomogeneity in terms of electric field distribution when electroporation is applied to permeabilize cellsfor enhanced uptake of chemodrugs. The electric field is evaluated by means of Finite Element Analysis and is compared with the distribution found in a phantom model. The phantoms are built using potato that becomes dark if electroporated, and a Tissue-Mimic-Material, where the resistivitycan be suitably designed. For this purpose, a pair of needles, with 2 cm gap was used to apply electric field. Both the numerical model and the phantom include a parallelepiped of homogeneous material with needles and a hole with diameter 7 mm, filled with materials with different resistivities. The hole in the middle, between the needles, simulates the inhomogeneity. This model can show the variation in the electric field whentissue inhomogeneities occur. The results illustrate the variations in theelectric fields at different regions, which haspromising clinical practice.