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The Clinical Application of Tumor Treating Fields Therapy in Glioblastoma
Published on: April 16, 2019
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Technical note: Evaluation of methods for reducing edge current density under electrode arrays for tumor-treating
Heehun Sung1, Yunhui Jo2, Geon Oh1
1Department of Bioengineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Medical Physics
|May 25, 2022
Summary
To reduce skin burns during tumor-treating fields (TTFields) therapy, researchers found that adding an insulator to electrode edges most effectively created uniform current density. This improves patient safety and quality of life.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Physics
- Oncology
Background:
- Tumor-treating fields (TTFields) therapy is a clinically significant cancer treatment.
- Reducing skin burns is crucial for patient safety and quality of life during TTFields therapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate electrode array construction methods for reducing current density that causes skin burns.
- To identify optimal parameters for minimizing skin adverse effects in TTFields therapy.
Main Methods:
- Generated electrode and scalp models using COMSOL software.
- Investigated three methods to reduce current density deviations: adjusting ceramic thickness ratio, metal plate radius, and inserting edge insulators.
- Maintained average current density at ~31 mA/cm² RMS.
Main Results:
- Adjusting ceramic thickness reduced current density deviations by 14.6%.
- Increasing metal plate radius reduced deviations by 67.7%.
- Inserting an edge insulator reduced deviations by 75.3% for single electrodes and significantly improved distribution for electrode arrays (8.62 to 2.40 mA/cm²).
Conclusions:
- Inserting an insulator at the electrode edge is the most effective method for uniform current density distribution.
- This method significantly lowers the risk of adverse effects associated with TTFields therapy.
