The new device could transform treatment of cancer. The device uses electricity to make softer the tumours prior to chemotherapy so they can absorb the drugs similar to a sponge. The research makes cancer cells absorbent so more that toxic drugs attack the cancerous cells rather than healthy cells.
The preliminary outcomes propose that the treatment diminished the amount of medicine required and can prevent side effects like fatigue, nausea and hair loss. The procedure called electro chemotherapy has been frequently used to treat tumours which are accessible easily like skin cancer.
But the research team from the University of Cork has developed a technique that can perform the same function for tumours of deep inside the body. The device is known as the EndoVe and is based on the fact that when a cancer cell is bombarded with short electric pulses, the protective outer membrane that remains undamaged starts to splinter.
This allows in large chemotherapy molecules. The normal treatment for bowel cancer is surgery to remove tumour and some of bowel, chemotherapy on protracted cells. The study researchers are looking at acclimatizing new technique to be use in cancers in the oesophagus, lungs, pancreas and prostate.
In bowel cancer patients, the EndoVe is attached to an endoscope and piece of the tumour is sucked into a mini chamber. The chemotherapy drug called bleomycin is injected into the bloodstream just prior to the tumour is exposed to quick-fire pulses to break open the membrane on the cancer cells and absorb the drug.