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The electric pulse temporarily increases the permeability of the cell membrane, allowing the chemotherapy drug molecules to enter the cancer cells more easily.
Here are four key features of ECT:
Targeted delivery: The electric pulse is delivered directly to the tumor, which helps to limit the exposure of healthy tissue to the chemotherapy drugs. This can help to reduce side effects and improve the overall effectiveness of the treatment.
Synergy with chemotherapy drugs: ECT has been shown to be more effective at killing cancer cells than chemotherapy alone. By increasing the amount of chemotherapy drug that enters the cancer cells, ECT can boost the overall effectiveness of the treatment.
Minimally invasive: ECT is a minimally invasive procedure that does not require surgery. This can make it a good option for patients who are not candidates for surgery or for those who are recovering from surgery.
Localized treatment: ECT is typically used as a localized treatment for small, accessible tumors. It is not a systemic treatment and does not affect the entire body like a systemic chemotherapy would. This can be a good option for tumors that are hard to remove surgically or that have spread to other parts of the body.
The safety and efficacy of ECT has been studied and proven through several international studies and its being brought into increasing number of international cancer treatment guidelines and protocols.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact me or read more on our website: www.OnMed.se
]]>CRISPR (pronounced crisper) is a strong gene-editing technique & what I can imagine as a CURE for CANCER.
That enables precise cut, renewal and repair on selected location of the DNA.
Compared to previous therapies, the CRISPR is like trading in a pair of rusty scissors for a robot-operating laser cutter, all use in gene-editing.
Caution: Yes, CRISPR could be the answer to many of our healthcare challenges nevertheless its a controversial issue, in both regulation & ethical aspects.
References: LinkedIn, Nature Video, Oncology publications
#cancer #electrochemotherapy #electroporation #biotech #targetedtherapy #genetherapy #genetherapies
Here are some suggestions:
Reference: LinkedIn, Senator Medical AB LinkedIn post
]]>As you may be hearing in the news, experts may soon be recommending that all of us wear masks in public. There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that it could be a wise move. Researchers from Yale compared data from countries where mask usage is common against countries where it is not and found that the death rate from COVID-19 is up to 10% lower in the countries with masked populations. Whether “masks for all” becomes an official recommendation in the US or not, at this point, if something MAY be effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19, it’s probably time to do it.
However, it’s important that you do not try to buy surgical or N95 masks! Given the dangerous shortage of protective equipment for healthcare workers on the frontlines, it is vitally important that we save surgical masks and N95 masks for those doctors, nurses, and others who are exposed to high levels of the virus.
That being said, you can still make cloth masks, or order them, for yourself or family. Studies have shown that cloth masks may help with spread of infection when used in conjunction with hand washing and physical distancing.
As a mom of two kids myself, I started looking into this a few days ago. There are several options, it seems: you could go the DIY route (basic instructions here); or you could buy them, whether from people in your communities who are selling them, or on websites, like etsy.
What type of cloth mask could work?
One study done in 2013 showed that 100% cotton t-shirts could have 69% effectiveness in protecting against organisms that are sized similar to flu viruses, and linen has 60-61%. But since COVID-19 is so new, we don’t have data about the levels of protection against this particular virus.
When choosing a fabric, one doctor suggested a “light” test, to see how effective different cloths might be – the less light that passes through the mask, the more effective it is. In fact, this doctor demonstrates how to make masks from old bras! (this doctor’s YouTube video is here)
Whatever kind of fabric you choose, keep these best practices in mind:
One last thought as we venture into the “masked” new world –
Although wearing a mask can potentially help prevent the spread of infection, it should be considered an add-on, not a replacement, for physical distancing and hand hygiene. Staying away from others and vigilant hand-washing are truly the pillars of prevention, and have been proven to be effective in ‘flattening the curve” and decreasing the flow of people to our hospitals.
Reference: WebMD
The coronavirus can live for hours to days on surfaces like countertops and doorknobs. How long it survives depends on the material the surface is made from.
Here’s a guide to how long coronaviruses — the family of viruses that includes the one that causes COVID-19 — can live on some of the surfaces you probably touch on a daily basis. Keep in mind that researchers still have a lot to learn about the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. For example, they don’t know whether exposure to heat, cold, or sunlight affects how long it lives on surfaces.
Metal
Examples: doorknobs, jewelry, silverware
5 days
Wood
Examples: furniture, decking
4 days
Plastics
Examples: packaging like milk containers and detergent bottles, subway and bus seats, backpacks, elevator buttons
2 to 3 days
Stainless steel
Examples: refrigerators, pots and pans, sinks, some water bottles
2 to 3 days
Cardboard
Examples: shipping boxes
24 hours
Copper
Examples: pennies, teakettles, cookware
4 hours
Aluminum
Examples: soda cans, tinfoil, water bottles
2 to 8 hours
Glass
Examples: drinking glasses, measuring cups, mirrors, windows
Up to 5 days
Ceramics
Examples: dishes, pottery, mugs
5 days
Paper
The length of time varies. Some strains of coronavirus live for only a few minutes on paper, while others live for up to 5 days.
Food
Coronavirus doesn’t seem to spread through exposure to food. Still, it’s a good idea to wash fruits and vegetables under running water before you eat them. Scrub them with a brush or your hands to remove any germs that might be on their surface. Wash your hands after you visit the supermarket. If you have a weakened immune system, you might want to buy frozen or canned produce.
Water
Coronavirus hasn’t been found in drinking water. If it does get into the water supply, your local water treatment plant filters and disinfects the water, which should kill any germs.
Coronaviruses can live on a variety of other surfaces, like fabrics and countertops.
Coronavirus Transmission: What You Need to Know
What You Can Do
To reduce your chance of catching or spreading coronavirus, clean and disinfect all surfaces and objects in your home and office every day. This includes:
Use a household cleaning spray or wipe. If the surfaces are dirty, clean them first with soap and water and then disinfect them.
Keep surfaces clean, even if everyone in your house is healthy. People who are infected may not show symptoms, but they can still shed the virus onto surfaces.
After you visit the drugstore or supermarket, or bring in takeout food or packages, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water. Do the same thing after you pick up a delivered newspaper.
WebMD Medical Reference
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Reference Article
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Summary of a Report of 72 314 Cases From the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reference: #Jamajournal #CoronaVirus #statistics #2020
Read original article here
]]>Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are the commonest cutaneous malignancy and incidence continues to increase. There is a need to expand the therapeutic toolbox to increase options for patients that are unsuitable for or unwilling to undergo the current therapies.
Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a technique where cells are temporarily permeabilized after exposure to a brief pulsed electrical field and combined with low dose chemotherapeutics to ablate malignancies. It is a simple technique causing minimal damage to the surrounding healthy tissue and has the potential to avoid the need for complex reconstruction. ECT is an established treatment for skin metastases but its role as a primary treatment modality is not demonstrated.
A prospective randomised control trial evaluating ECT against the gold standard of treatment, Surgery, was performed for patients with primary BCC and patients followed for 5 years. All lesions treated with ECT (n = 69) responded although 8/69 (12%) needed a second treatment to ensure a complete response. All surgical lesions (n = 48) showed histological evidence of complete excision with 2/48 (4%) undergoing a second excision. At 5 years, in the surgical arm there was no evidence of recurrence in 39/40 (97.5%) lesions with 1/40 (2.5%) confirmed recurrence. In the ECT arm there was no evidence of recurrence in 42/48 lesions (87.5%). There was 5 confirmed recurrences. These groups show statistical equivalence in this non inferiority study design (p = 0.33).
ECT is an effective and durable treatment option for primary BCC and should be considered as part of the armamentarium of options available.
Read the original article on Elsevier Journal
]]>Electrochemotherapy is a way of getting specific chemotherapy drug into cancer cells.
It is a combination of:
A special probe sends an electric pulse to the tumour. The electric pulse changes the outer layer of the cancer cell. This makes it easier for the chemotherapy to get inside the cell.
Doctors use electrochemotherapy for cancers that started in the skin or have spread to the skin from elsewhere. These include:
Electrochemotherapy has been approved by many of European Health Authorities including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a possible treatment to relieve symptoms for people with cancers affecting their skin. It can help to control symptoms when other treatments are no longer working.
Most people who have this treatment have shown improvement in their symptoms. How much it helps varies from one person to another. You might need more than one treatment to control your symptoms.
Research is looking into finding out more about how well it works and which patients it can help.
You usually have electrochemotherapy as a day patient. But occasionally people need to stay in hospital overnight. You will have either a general anaesthetic, so you are asleep, or you might have a local anaesthetic with a drug to make you sleepy (sedation).
You have chemotherapy as either:
An injection into the tumour (intratumoural)
An injection into your bloodstream through a small tube (intravenously)
The type of chemotherapy you might have is either Cisplatin or Bleomycin. You have much lower dose than with standard chemotherapy treatment. This is because the electric pulse helps the chemotherapy get through the cell wall. Lower doses of chemotherapy mean fewer side effects.
You might have this treatment awake with a local anasethetic to numb the area or you might be asleep (general anasethetic).
First you have an injection of local anaesthetic to numb the area. The doctor then injects the chemotherapy and you have the electric pulse immediately afterwards.
You usually need to have this while you are asleep, under general anaesthetic.
You have the chemotherapy into a vein. Then eight minutes later, you have the electric pulse to the tumour.
The electric pulse comes from a special machine. Attached to the machine is a probe. The probe is the size of a large pen and has an electrode on it. The doctor puts the electrode against your skin to deliver an electric pulse to the tumour.
Your whole treatment can take between 10 and 60 minutes, depending on how many tumours you have.
The main side effect is pain in the area where the electrode touches the skin. This is usually mild and lasts for a couple of days. More rarely some people have more severe pain that can last between two and four weeks. Your doctor or clinical nurse specialist will give you some painkillers if you need them.
Some people have muscle contractions during the treatment. Your doctor can slightly alter the way they give treatment if this is uncomfortable. You may also feel sick but this is usually mild and you can have anti sickness medicines. Infection in the area you have treatment is rare. Tell your doctor if you notice the area has become redder, swollen, painful or if there is any discharge.
You might notice the colour of your skin changes where you had treatment. It might be darker or lighter. This usually fades with time but can be permanent for some people.
The area where you have treatment can form an ulcer or the skin might breakdown. If this happens you will need a nurse to dress it until it heals. This might take a couple of weeks.
So far, researchers have used electrochemotherapy to control symptoms of advanced skin cancers when other treatments aren’t working.
In the future, researchers hope that electrochemotherapy could become a treatment for early skin cancers. But we need to compare it with the current standard treatments and this can take many years.
Researchers are also looking into using electric pulses to treat cancers in body cavities. These include early bladder cancers and cancers in the chest. This treatment in body cavities is called electromotive drug administration.
Reference: Cancer Research, UK, 2019
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