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COSMOSEMS Helps Refine Promising Cancer Treatment
Company
Genetronics |
Industry
Medical |
Location
U.S.A. |
Product Used
COSMOSWorks™, COSMOSEMS™ |
Type of Analysis
Low Frequency
Electromagnetics |
More Details
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Download video
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Electric Field Strength Contour Plot
of a 6 Needle Electrode Array.
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The Challenge
Chemotherapy can be a very effective
treatment for many types of cancers. However, the cell membrane that
surrounds each cancer cell makes it difficult for some chemotherapeutic
agents to penetrate inside and cause cell death. In addition, physicians
infuse these agents throughout the body in high concentrations. Unfortunately,
this system-wide application often has serious side effects, killing
healthy as well as cancerous cells, while also causing nausea, hair
loss, weakness and other symptoms.
For years, cancer researchers have
been trying to find a way to target chemotherapeutic agents more precisely,
to deliver the agents to only that part of the body affected by a cancer.
This could make it possible to deliver the chemotherapy more effectively,
and reduce, or even eliminate side effects.
The Solution
One way to reduce the doses required to kill cancer cells is to
make the cells in a tumor more permeable, that is, make it easier for
the chemotherapeutic agents to penetrate the cell membrane, and enter
the cell. COSMOSEMS and SolidWorks are playing a vital role in testing
certain features of Genetronics's MedPulser®, a device that applies
an electric pulse technology to cancer cells, making them more permeable
to chemotherapeutic agents.
The MedPulser® Electrode Applicator
contains six needles arranged in a hexagon. Genetronics uses the electrostatic
module of SRAC's COSMOSEMS to model the electrical fields. Depending
on the application, the strength of an electrical field might vary from
500 to 15,000 Volts/centimeter.
Summary and Metrics:
- COSMOSEMS helps optimize existing devices and create new instruments
for researchers at Genetronics to use
- COSMOSEMS gave the ability to change an electrode geometry and analyze
an electrical field within a half hour instead of days
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"The
time savings are so dramatic they are, in a sense, unquantifiable."
Chris Andre, Mechanical Engineer
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Special Thanks to Genetronics www.genetronics.com
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