Dielectric Property Measurement of Breast—Tumor Phantom Model Under Pulsed Electric Field Treatment

Pulsed electric field (PEF) is an emerging bioelectrical technology. This paper includes one such application in the medical field. Realistic phantoms serve as an innovative tool for exploring the feasibility of new technologies, reducing the number of human and animal trials in medical research for optimizing the design concepts that can be useful for treating the diseases. This paper includes modeling of the breast (homogeneous and heterogeneous) and cancerous tumor equivalent semisolid phantoms by using tissue-mimicking materials, such as agar, gelatin, oil, etc., and the effect of the PEF on these models was observed. Field analysis of the phantoms was simulated using finite element analysis. Dielectric properties of the modeled phantom were measured before and after PEF, using impedance analyzer over a frequency range of 50 Hz to 50 MHz and obtained values were validated by using Debye model. Tumor phantoms are embedded in breast phantoms and are exposed to ten number of pulses for 2 and 4 kV/cm with rising and fall time of 1.2/50 μs using needle electrode configuration. Application of PEF on tumor model alters the membrane resulting in a dramatic increase in electrical conductivity indicating the pore formation as in other electroporation-based-therapies and the permittivity of the tissue decreased considerably at higher applied fields. The measurement of dielectric properties and its changes due to electric fields can be used as a tool for effective PEF treatment for cancer.