Method for enhancing delivery of chemotherapy employing high-frequency force fields
First Claim
1. In an electrochemotherapeutic treatment method comprising the steps of (1) systemically administering an agent which includes at least one of a drug agent and a chemotherapeutic agent to a patient, and (2), a short time after the systemic administration of said agent, applying force-field shock pulses to at least one site of said patient of sufficiently high-intensities to open large transient pores in plasma membranes of cells of each site to which said force-field shock pulses are applied, thereby permitting said agent to enter said cells of that site through said pores and result in locally enhanced therapeutic effect;
- the improvement wherein said step (2) comprises the step of;
a) applying at least one of said force-field shock pulses that comprises a burst of high-frequency wave energy to a given site of said patient of sufficiently high-intensity to open large transient pores in plasma membranes of cells of said given site.
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Abstract
Pulse shocks of high-frequency wave energy (e.g. RF, microwave, high-energy infra-red or laser electromagnetic wave energy or ultrasonic acoustic wave energy), rather than DC electric pulses, are employed to non-invasively produce force fields of an intensity sufficient to create transient pores in the plasma membranes of targeted cells, such as tumor cells or other diseased cells, through which either locally or systemically applied drug or chemotherapeutic agents can easily enter and be taken up by the targeted cells, even for (1) the cells of a deep-seated tumor, (2) non-localized metastasized tumor cells within a patient'"'"'s body, or (3) cells (e.g., blood cells) temporarily removed to outside of a patient'"'"'s body.
240 Citations
14 Claims
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1. In an electrochemotherapeutic treatment method comprising the steps of (1) systemically administering an agent which includes at least one of a drug agent and a chemotherapeutic agent to a patient, and (2), a short time after the systemic administration of said agent, applying force-field shock pulses to at least one site of said patient of sufficiently high-intensities to open large transient pores in plasma membranes of cells of each site to which said force-field shock pulses are applied, thereby permitting said agent to enter said cells of that site through said pores and result in locally enhanced therapeutic effect;
- the improvement wherein said step (2) comprises the step of;
a) applying at least one of said force-field shock pulses that comprises a burst of high-frequency wave energy to a given site of said patient of sufficiently high-intensity to open large transient pores in plasma membranes of cells of said given site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- the improvement wherein said step (2) comprises the step of;
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11. In an electrochemotherapeutic method for treating prostate disease of a patient comprising the steps of (1) systemically administering an agent which includes at least one of a drug agent and a chemotherapeutic agent to the patient, and (2), a short time after the systemic administration of said agent, applying sufficient squeezing pressure to non-prostate tissue which surrounds an orifice of the patient in a vicinity of the patient'"'"'s prostate both to compress the prostate and non-prostate tissue and to increase a distance from a given location within said orifice to said non-prostate tissue;
- the improvement wherein said method comprises the further step of;
while said pressure is being applied, irradiating said prostate through said non-prostate tissue from said given location within said orifice with a force-field shock of pulsed microwave energy of sufficiently high-intensity to open large transient pores in plasma membranes of cells of said prostate and thereby permit said agent to enter into and be taken up by said cells of said prostate through said pores, to thereby enhance a therapeutic effect of said agent on said prostate. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
- the improvement wherein said method comprises the further step of;
Specification