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Updated: May 26, 2026

Electrochemotherapy of Tumours
Published on: December 15, 2008
Application of electrolysis for detoxification of an antineoplastic in urine
Toyohide Kobayashi1, Jun Hirose, Kouichi Sano
1Project Team for Medical Application of Electrolysis, Central Research Center, Osaka Medical College, 2-7 Daigaku-machi, Takatsuki-shi, Osaka 569-8686, Japan.
Abstract:
Antineoplastics in excreta from patients have been considered to be one of the origins of cytotoxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic contaminants in surface water. Recent studies have demonstrated that antineoplastics in clinical wastewater can be detoxified by electrolysis. In this study, to develop a method for the detoxification of antineoplastics in excreta, methotrexate solution in the presence of human urine was electrolyzed and evaluated. We found that urine inhibits detoxification by electrolysis; however, this inhibition decreased by diluting urine. In urine samples, the concentrations of active chlorine generated by anodic oxidation from 0.9% NaCl solution for inactivation of antineoplastics increased in dilution-dependent and time-dependent manner. These results indicate that electrolysis with platinum-based iridium oxide composite electrode is a possible method for the detoxification of a certain antineoplastic in urine.
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