Fine needle electrode reduces electrochemotherapy complications in feline nasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

MAGLIETTI, FELIPE; MARSHALL, GUILLERMO; TELLADO, MATÍAS; OLAIZ, NAHUEL; MICHINSKI, SEBASTIAN

Norfolk

Congreso; 2nd World Congress on Electroporation and Pulsed Electric Fields in Biology, Medicine, and Food & Environmental Technologies; 2017

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; }Electrochemotherapyis a novel technique in veterinary and human medicine which hasproved to have good results in the treatment of oncological diseases.However, electrochemotherapywith needle electrodes of feline nasal plane generates severe tissueinflammation that leads to several days of anorexia and pain. Inthese cases, a high percentage of cats were inappetent, requiringnutritional support. The aim of this work was to evaluate theeffectiveness and tolerance of the use of a fine needle electrode forthe treatment of feline nasal plane squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).Thickerneedles at greater distance require more current to maintain voltageconstant. For that reasons the pH changes induced are more intense,and this can contribute to elicit undesired effects. For the thickneedle group, elevenpatients with histological diagnosis of nasal plane SCC were treatedwith our conventional 20G six needle electrode arrangedat 0.8cm distance between rows with an electric configuration of 8pulses of 0.1ms, 1000V /cm at 10 Hz. For the thin needle group,twelve patientswith the same diagnosis was treated witha 27G four needle electrode, arranged at 0.4cm distance between rowswith the same electric configuration. All patients received meloxicam0.1-0.2mg/kg once a day and tramadol 2mg/kg twice a day asanti-inflammatory protocol. Theobjective response of the control group was observed in 9/11 patients(81.8%) and the objective response in the treatment group wasobserved in 10/12 patients (83.3%), therefore no significantdifferences in therapeutic response were observed (p=0.923). The meancurrent that circulated during the treatment was 16 A for the thickneedles group and 8 A for the thin needles group. The side effects ofthe control group with the conventional 20G needle electrode wereconspicuous with 4 day-anorexia in 6/11 patients and nutritionalsupport with feeding tube required in 4/11 patients. Two of thesepatients were euthanized after two weeks, due to their poor qualityof life. The treatment group did not show anorexia or localinflammation in any case and showed no evidence of side effects. Inconclusion we assume that the thickness of the electrode needleswould be a determining factor in the tolerance ofelectrochemotherapy, without affecting the effectiveness of thetreatment, probably because the feline nasal plane is a highlysensitive structure.