Clinical and experimental studies of anti-tumoural effects of electrochemical therapy (ECT) alone or in combination with chemotherapy.

The present experimental study shows that anticancer agents may accumulate around electrodes placed in saline and in lung when the electrodes are charged with direct electric current. We also observed that electrochemical therapy (ECT) in combination with chemotherapy was more effective for treatment of localized tumours (human lung cancer PC-13 transplated to nude mice) than was ECT or systemic chemotherapy alone. In a clinical study, 26 patients (27 lesions) received ECT with or without systemic chemotherapy. We observed a decrease in tumour size in more than 70% of the cases, and in two cases the use of ECT alone resulted in complete regression of the tumour. In one case there was an increase in tumour size. The main side-effects observed during treatment of lung cancer was pain during treatment, fever after treatment, and pneumothorax. We conclude that ECT may be effective in controlling localised tumours. The clinical use of ECT is, however, associated with several problems and the mechanism of this treatment has not yet been completely established.