Breast Cancer Treatment update-Electrochemotherapy

Skin recurrence is quite a well-known condition among Breast Cancer patients.

It can cause a real clinical challenge while profoundly impacts the life quality of such patients.

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a palliative therapy for cutaneous metastases. Utilizing electric pulses will increase the local permeability of tumor cells for selected cytotoxic molecules (e.g. Cisplatin & Bleomycin).

Electrochemotherapy is a standardized method in which patients are treated with either of intratumoral or IV injection of calculated small dose of chemotherapy drug followed by applying electric pulses (8 pulses of 0.1 ms) under either local or general anesthesia, depending on tumor size.

The pulse sequences are applied directly to the tumor area, using an electroporation system connected to needle electrodes (SENNEX® System for instance).

This local therapy takes around 20 minutes and an overall treatment response of 85% has been observed in several and multicentral studies (particularly in smaller metastases).

After a single treatment with Electrochemotherapy a high response rate has been observed and side effects are very minimal (hyperpigmentation in the treatment site, rare ulceration and a slight increase in pain).

Electrochemotherapy can be used as an adjunct to systemic therapies as well as a sole treatment. We therefore highly recommend to consider electrochemotherapy for patients with cutaneous metastases, where radiotherapy and surgery is not an option.