Models of Irreversible Electroporation: A Review and Initial Model Implementation

Abstract

Cancer may affect any person. Amongst possible techniques to treat some cancers is ablation, through the use of the irreversible electroporation (IRE) as one of the methods. Medical University of Varna is implementing a project on irreversible electroporation aiming to develop a hardware prototype. The first step is review of existing models and the development of an own model, which will be used in the device prototyping. To find the existing models, we reviewed articles related to electroporation models. Based on the literature review, we developed own model, where we used open-source software OpenEP and Embarcadero C++. The review of the available literature publications indicates that initial models employed a simplified cell structure. Despite this simplicity, these models effectively reflected important characteristics of the cell behaviour and the interdependencies between field features and cells. Recent investigations created better models and optimized parameters for specific cases. The review models were used in the development of dedicated software application for simulation, visualization, and educational purposes in the field of IRE. Developed software application allows investigation of various IRE protocols. Experimental investigation of implemented models and software is undergoing. The software will allow further advancement in our capacity to explore and comprehend cellular dynamics.