Implantable DC Ablation Device for Tumor Therapy

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advanced Medical Electronics (AME) proposes to develop a prototype implantable direct-current (DC) ablation device for treating solid cancerous tumors. Recent data support the hypothesis that DC ablation offers a viable treatment option to patients who previously had few or no effective therapy alternatives, including those with unresectable liver or pancreatic tumors. The proposed implantable DC ablation device will deliver energy at a lower rate than other ablative therapies. Therapy sessions may last from several hours to a few days and may be repeated, if needed for several weeks. The implantable system overcomes the primary drawback of DC ablation: long therapy delivery time. Recent advances in telemetry implant packaging, electrode design, and battery technology make an implantable DC ablation device technically feasible at this time. The objective of this project is to design, build, and test an experimental implant device suitable for use in experiments to evaluate the anti-tumor efficacy of DC ablation in a rat model.