Electric field distribution in brain tumors

About 37% of the brain tumors are malignant, causing brain cancers. Brain tumor stands as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children and adults. Current standard of cure includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Brain surgery is too complex and involves more risks in treatment. In external beam radiation therapy, multiple treatments of standard-dose fractions of radiation are applied to the brain. This process is repeated for a total of 10 to 30 treatments, depending on the type of tumor. Chemotherapy may improve overall survival in patients with the most malignant primary brain tumors, it does so in only about 20 percent of patients. Chemotherapy is often used in young children instead of radiation, as radiation may have negative effects on the developing brain. Thus, there is a critical need for alternate/new therapies, and Electrochemotherophy is an attractive alternative, by applying electric field at critical strength across cell membrane to make it permeable to anti cancer drugs. In this study, a 3D model of human brain is created using commercial, state-of-the-art, COMSOL software that utilizes finite element method, with variable parameters like tissue conductivity, permeability and field strength was recorded to compare and analyze. The electric field distribution on tumor regions at various depths (slices) were examined. The results could be used for clinical applications.