Electric field distribution of malignant breast tissue under needle electrode configuration

Breast cancer is the second leading disease causing death in women. The most recent data tells that breast cancer accounts for 28% to 38% of all cancers in women in big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, etc. in India and it is also becoming an issue worldwide with 400,000+ deaths an year. This indicates that the current standard of cure is not adequate and we need additional/alternate therapies. Electrochemotherapy, which is the process by which external electrical pulses are applied to facilitate the transport of chemo drugs in to cells, is gaining momentum as an alternative treatment for chemorefractory and inoperable cancers. This paper deals with the electric field distribution study of breast tissue with ductal carcinoma model using MAXWELL 3D Simulator. The results indicate that the electric field distribution is in general homogeneous and the malignant tissue has different electric field intensity compared to the normal tissue for a given condition, depending upon with or without fat and skin.