Electrochemotherapy in Cancer Patients: First Clinical Trial in Greece

Electrochemotherapy is currently undergoing intensive investigation in the field of local control of cancer. In Greece, five medical centers have co-operated to perform ECT for the efficient management of growing, recurrent or newly emerging cutaneous and subcutaneous tumor nodules. ECT was applied alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy, brachytherapy and surgery in 52 cancer patients, using bleomycin according to standard protocols. The treatment response for various tumors was 63.83% complete, 31.91% partial, and 95.74% overall of the treated nodules. Patients exerted neither systemic nor local side-effects. The results of ECT performance in Greece provided evidence that this new treatment strategy is safe and permits the effective control of tumors of various origins and histological types. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a new treatment modality for tumor ablation, suitable for the local control of various types of solid tumors. The efficacy of ECT is based on the local application of short and intense electric pulses that increase the permeability of cell membranes, allowing non-permeant or low-permeant anticancer drugs (typically bleomycin or cisplatin) to enter the cells (1). The application of electric pulses to tumors significantly increases the antitumor effectiveness of the anticancer agents (2-5). Typically, a single treatment is sufficient for efficient local control, however, it can be repeated on growing, recurrent or newly emerging tumors with equal effectiveness (6). The treatment is safe, well-tolerated and presents high efficacy on treated nodules, while it allows the immediate return of patients to daily life since it is typically performed on an out-patient basis. Moreover, it is an easy to apply, quick and cost- efficient treatment approach.