Cellular model of electroporated tissue for ultrasound RF data analysis

Electroporation is permeabilization of the cell membrane, caused by an external electric field. Because of minimal thermal effects and minimal disturbance caused to tissue vasculature, electroporation is becoming one of the methods of choice in tumor therapy. There has been no report indicating that reversible electroporation can be detected by ultrasound. In this work, a cellular model for monitoring the electroporation process by ultrasound RF signals is proposed. The density of aqueous pores with different sizes was found by applying the asymptotic model of electroporation and Smoluchowski equation. The cellular model was send to an ultrasound simulation program where pores were modeled by reducing the number of reflective mechanical scatterers in cell´s membrane. Results are expected to be used as an indication of electroporation´s effect on cells allowing for the real-time monitoring of this process. Ultimately, an experimental verification would then allow the validation and refinement of the model.