Group: Musculoskeletal & CNS
Bone & Soft Tissue Sarcomas
In bone metastases and soft tissue sarcomas, electrochemotherapy has been studied for pain palliation, local control and preoperative volume reduction. The high impedance of bone and the need for imaging guidance in electrode placement are technical themes specific to this area.
64total publications
25clinical publications
27preclinical publications
11reviews
1997–2026publication span
Clinical publications: randomized, prospective and retrospective studies, case series and case reports. Preclinical publications: animal, in vitro, modelling and experimental biophysics studies.
Literature Status by Method
Publication count, clinical and preclinical split, literature maturity and publication span for each clinical method. The badge at the top of the page summarises the ECT record only; the full split by method is here.
Electrochemotherapy (ECT)
39publications
18clinical publications
17preclinical publications
Early clinical literaturethreshold 8/39
Validated records entering the maturity calculation: 8 (clinical 5, preclinical 2), 21% of the records for this method.
1997–2026
Irreversible electroporation (IRE)
13publications
6clinical publications
4preclinical publications
Exploratory literaturethreshold 3/13
Validated records entering the maturity calculation: 3 (clinical 1, preclinical 0), 23% of the records for this method.
2011–2026
Calcium electroporation
1publication
0clinical publications
0preclinical publications
Exploratory literaturethreshold 0/1
No record for this method entered the maturity calculation; the records are marked in the validation ledger as conflicting, insufficient or out of scope.
2019–2019
Gene electrotransfer
3publications
0clinical publications
3preclinical publications
Exploratory literaturethreshold 0/3
No record for this method entered the maturity calculation; the records are marked in the validation ledger as conflicting, insufficient or out of scope.
2006–2013
Other electroporation applications
8publications
1clinical publication
3preclinical publications
This set does not name a single clinical method; no literature maturity is assigned.
2000–2024
Mechanisms Mentioned in Abstracts
Mechanism names are detected by automatic matching over publication abstracts; the figure is the number of publications containing the name. A mention does not mean the mechanism was demonstrated in that study.
Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation 19
Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation 18
Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death 15
Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation 9
Electric Field Distribution and Modelling 9
Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability 7
Electrode Geometry and Placement 7
Necrosis and Necroptosis 5
Haemostasis and Bleeding Control 4
Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA) 3
Apoptosis Induction 3
Systemic / Abscopal Immune Response 2
Study Type Distribution
Bar length is scaled to the most common study type; the percentage gives the share of the whole area. Colour marks the study-type band, on the same scale as the literature map.
| Study type | Publications | Share within this area |
|---|---|---|
| Prospective Clinical Study | 2 | 3% |
| Clinical Study | 8 | 12% |
| Retrospective Clinical Study | 1 | 2% |
| Case Series | 1 | 2% |
| Case Report | 13 | 20% |
| Review | 11 | 17% |
| Animal Study | 20 | 31% |
| In Vitro Study | 2 | 3% |
| In Silico / Modelling | 4 | 6% |
| Experimental Biophysics Study | 1 | 2% |
| Correction / Erratum | 1 | 2% |
Literature Evidence Table
64 publications listed in order of evidence strength. Click a title to open the citation, mechanism and full abstract drawer.
The study type, model and mechanism columns are assigned automatically and can be wrong for individual records; the abstract column is taken either from the publication's own abstract or from the opening text of the source PDF. The labels are there for scanning and filtering, not as record-level verified data; consult the full text before acting on any single publication. The classification rules and known errors are on the Literature Map.
| Regime | Publication | Year | Study type | Model | Mechanism | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECT | Ottlakan et al · Bioelectrochemistry | 2022 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Electrode Geometry and Placement | The aim of the current prospective pilot study exclusively for deep-seated soft tissue sarcomas (STS) was to evaluate efficacy and safety of bleomycin-based ECT using VEG (variable electrode… |
| IRE | Martin et al · BMC Cancer | 2014 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Background: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) has recently been added as an additional therapeutic ablative option in patients with locally advanced cancers (LAC) involving vital structures… |
| ECT | Cevolani et al · J Surg Oncol | 2023 | Clinical Study | Human | Necrosis and Necroptosis | Background: Bone metastases are frequent in patients with cancer. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a minimally invasive treatment based on a high-voltage electric pulse combined with an anticanc… |
| ECT | Campanacci et al · Curr Oncol | 2022 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Bone metastases induce pain, risk of fracture, and neural compression, and reduced mobility and quality of life. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a minimally invasive local treatment based on a … |
| ECT | Campanacci et al · Eur J Surg Oncol | 2021 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Introduction: Bone metastases are frequent in patients with cancer. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a minimally invasive treatment. Preclinical and clinical studies supported the use of ECT in … |
| ECT | Simioni et al · Sci Rep | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Electrode Geometry and Placement | Standard electrochemotherapy (ECT) is effective in many tumour types but is confined to the treatment of small superficial lesions. Variable electrode-geometry ECT (VEG-ECT) may overcome the… |
| ECT | Bianchi et al · World J Surg | 2016 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Introduction: Bone metastatic disease is a major cause of pain and decreased quality of life in patients with cancer. In addition to systemic therapy and pain control with narcotic analgesic… |
| ECT | Guida et al · Annals of Oncology | 2016 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Angiosarcoma is an aggressive vascular neoplasm with a high propensity for local recurrence. Electrochemotherapy is an emerging skin-directed therapy, © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford … |
| ECT | Guida et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO) | 2016 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Antivascular Effect and Vessel Disruption | Angiosarcoma is an aggressive vascular neoplasm with a high propensity for local recurrence. Electrochemotherapy is an emerging skin-directed therapy, which exerts prominent anti-tumour acti… |
| ECT | Campana et al · World J Surg | 2013 | Clinical Study | Human | Electrode Geometry and Placement, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Aims: Our aim was to evaluate the activity, toxicity, and feasibility of electrochemotherapy (ECT) in patients with soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Methods: A two-stage phase II trial was conduc… |
| ECT | Deschamps et al · Eur J Cancer | 2023 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Objective: To report efficacy and safety of percutaneous electrochemotherapy (ECT) in patients with radiotherapy-resistant metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC). Material/ meth… |
| ECT | Tedesco et al · J Clin Med | 2024 | Case Series | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | (1) Background: this case series and literature review aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of electrochemotherapy in the management of aggressive spinal hemangiomas, presenting two dist… |
| ECT | Siew et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2026 | Case Report | Human | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Electrode Geometry and Placement | Vertebral haemangiomas are benign lesions that developed from vascular proliferation within bone marrow spaces [1]. As these malformations do not grow by mitotic activity and lack any malign… |
| IRE | Pusceddu · Diagn Interv Radiol | 2026 | Case Report | Human | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Bone metastases are common in advanced solid tumors and often require local control strategies in addition to systemic therapy. Although thermal ablation is an established method for selecte… |
| ECT | Angelini et al · Diagnostics (Basel) | 2024 | Case Report | Human | Necrosis and Necroptosis | Metastases are complications of primary tumors due to prolonged cancer survival and have become an important issue for oncological patients and the most frequent cause of death and disabilit… |
| ECT | Parisi et al · – | 2023 | Case Report | – | Haemostasis and Bleeding Control | Breast Angiosarcoma is a rare malignancy, accounting less than 1% of all soft tissue. It comprises primitive and secondary subtypes, such as radiogenic breast angiosarcoma (RAS). Despite the… |
| ECT | Albertini et al · Case Rep Med | 2020 | Case Report | Human | – | Introduction Metastatic bone disease represents a systemic pathology that heavily affects the quality of life of oncologic patients causing pain and functional disability. Methodology . We p… |
| ECT | Cornelis et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2019 | Case Report | Human | – | Two patients underwent percutaneous image-guided electrochemotherapy on blastic spine metastases involving posterior walls of the lumbar vertebral bodies with epidural extension. These treat… |
| IRE | Qin et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2017 | Case Report | Human | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Purpose: To explore the safety and efficacy of irreversible electroporation ablation in unresectable fibrous sarcoma with 2 electrodes. Methods: A 74-year-old woman with unresectable retrope… |
| Other EP | Mocerino et al · Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol | 2016 | Case Report | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Angiosarcomas are malignant tumors of endovascular origin, which may be divided into primary and secondary forms. Secondary breast angiosarcomas are an increasing problem, especially in pati… |
| IRE | Harris et al · J Pediatr Hematol Oncol | 2016 | Case Report | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Irreversible electroporation (IRE) induces apoptosis in tumor cells with electric energy, allowing treatment of unresectable tumors. One potential application is metastatic osteosarcoma (OS)… |
| IRE | Steinbrecher et al · BMJ Case Rep | 2016 | Case Report | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is the second most common paediatric cancer of the bone. Standard therapy includes surgery or radiation for local control of primary and relapsed lesions and chemotherap… |
| ECT | Bonadies et al · Anticancer Res | 2015 | Case Report | Human | – | Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is an uncommon cutaneous sarcoma with high recurrence rate. Radical surgery is the treatment of choice, although in cosmetically-sensitive areas such a… |
| IRE | Neal et al · J Clin Oncol | 2011 | Case Report | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a promising technique for the focal treatment of pathologic tissues that involves placing minimally invasive electrodes within the targeted region. A se… |
| ECT | Shimizu et al · J Orthop Sci | 2003 | Case Report | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Necrosis and Necroptosis | Electrochemotherapy (ECT) delivers nonpermeable anticancer drugs to cell interiors by temporally increasing the permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane under locally applied pulsating elect… |
| ECT | Deschamps et al · Br J Radiol | 2025 | Review | Human | Electric Field Distribution and Modelling | This review aims to analyse the safety and clinical efficacy in terms of pain relief and local tumour control, in patients with metastatic epidural spinal cord compression undergoing electro… |
| Other EP | Berry-Kilgour · Front Bioeng Biotechnol | 2024 | Review | Literature Analysis | Preservation of Extracellular Matrix and Tissue Scaffold, Electric Field Distribution and Modelling | Tissue engineering encompasses a range of techniques that direct the growth of cells into a living tissue construct for regenerative medicine applications, disease models, drug discovery, an… |
| ECT | Parisi et al · J Clin Med | 2024 | Review | Literature Analysis | Haemostasis and Bleeding Control | Breast angiosarcoma is a rare malignancy, accounting for less than 1% of all soft tissue cancers. It comprises primitive and secondary subtypes, such as radiogenic breast angiosarcoma (RAS).… |
| ECT | Martin et al · Bioengineering (Basel) | 2023 | Review | Literature Analysis | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | The primary aim of this study was to analyze studies that use electrochemotherapy (ECT) in "deep-seated" tumors in solid organs (liver, kidney, bone metastasis, pancreas, and abdomen) and un… |
| Other EP | Shu · Life (Basel) | 2023 | Review | Literature Analysis | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Soft tissue tumors (STTs) include a range of benign and malignant tumors originating from soft tissues. Transarterial and percutaneous therapies are image-guided and minimally invasive appro… |
| IRE | Sun et al · Anticancer Res | 2023 | Review | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy, and surgical resection combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the gold-standard treatment for affected patients. Although the over… |
| Other EP | Tsukamoto et al · Curr Oncol | 2021 | Review | Human | – | The number of patients with bone metastasis increases as medical management and surgery improve the overall survival of patients with cancer. Bone metastasis can cause skeletal complications… |
| IRE | Sundararajan et al · JCPCR | 2019 | Review | Literature Analysis | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Volume 10 Issue 5 - 2019 Sarcomas are cancers that occur in soft tissues and bones that mostly affect teenagers and young adults. Although its occurrence is rare, the affect is huge-metastat… |
| IRE | Vailas et al · J BUON | 2019 | Review | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Sarcomas arise from uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of mesodermal origins, such as connective tissue, bone, cartilage, fat or muscle. Surgical resection is still considered the cornersto… |
| Other EP | Mavrogenis et al · Clin J Pain | 2016 | Review | Human | – | Background: Metastatic disease is the most common malignancy of the bone. Prostate, breast, lung, kidney, and thyroid cancer account for 80% of skeletal metastases. Bone metastases are assoc… |
| ECT | Spugnini et al · Int J Biochem Cell Biol | 2008 | Review | Animal (In Vivo) | – | Local management of soft tissue sarcoma in humans generally involves multi-modality approaches whose cornerstones are surgery combined with radiation therapy. The usual radiation protocols a… |
| ECT | Deschamps et al · Eur Radiol Exp | 2025 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Haemostasis and Bleeding Control, Apoptosis Induction | Background: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) of vertebral metastasis is a new treatment option for metastasis that is not accessible to thermal ablation or radiotherapy. A numerical feasibility stu… |
| ECT | Kranjc et al · Radiol Oncol | 2017 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Background: Cisplatin is used in cancer therapy, but its side effects and acquired resistance to cisplatin have led to the synthesis and evaluation of new platinum compounds. Recently, the s… |
| IRE | Tschon et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2016 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Skeletal metastases are a common cause of severe morbidity, reduction in quality of life and often early mortality. Consequently, improvements in therapies are necessary. Electroporation use… |
| IRE | Tam et al · Radiology | 2016 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Electric Field Distribution and Modelling | Purpose To determine the effects of irreversible electroporation (IRE) on the neural tissues after ablation in the epidural space of the porcine spine. Materials and Methods The institutiona… |
| ECT | Cemazar et al · Radiol Oncol | 2015 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Background: Electrochemotherapy is a tumour ablation modality, based on electroporation of the cell membrane, allowing non-permeant anticancer drugs to enter the cell, thus augmenting their … |
| IRE | Song et al · Sci Rep | 2015 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a novel ablation method that has been tested in humans with lung, prostate, kidney, liver, lymph node and presacral cancers. As a new non-thermal treatm… |
| ECT | Fini et al · Clin Exp Metastasis | 2013 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Bone metastases impair general health status, quality of life and survival of patients. Electrochemotherapy (ECT), which combines electroporation (EP) and the administration of anticancer dr… |
| Gene ET | Sedlar · BMC Cancer | 2013 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA), Interleukin-12 Mediated Immune Stimulation | Background: Interleukin-12 (IL-12) based radiosensitization is an effective way of tumor treatment. Local cytokine production, without systemic shedding, might provide clinical benefit in ra… |
| Gene ET | Sedlar et al · Radiol Oncol | 2012 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA), Interleukin-12 Mediated Immune Stimulation | BACKGROUND.: Electrochemotherapy provides good local tumor control but requires adjuvant treatment for increased local response and action on distant metastasis. In relation to this, intramu… |
| IRE | Li et al · PLoS One | 2012 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Background: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a promising technique for the focal treatment of pathologic tissues, which involves placing minimally invasive electrodes within the targete… |
| ECT | Spugnini et al · J Transl Med | 2011 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | Background: Cancer is one of the most difficult current health challenges, being responsible for millions of deaths yearly. Systemic chemotherapy is the most common therapeutic approach, and… |
| Other EP | Fini et al · J Bone Joint Surg Br | 2010 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | – | Short intense electrical pulses transiently increase the permeability of the cell membrane, an effect known as electroporation. This can be combined with antiblastic drugs for ablation of tu… |
| Gene ET | Grosel et al · DNA Cell Biol | 2006 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA), Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | The aim of our study was to evaluate feasibility and therapeutic potential of electrogene therapy with p53 alone or combined with electrochemotherapy using cisplatin on two murine sarcomas w… |
| ECT | Spugnini et al · Cancer Chemother Pharmacol | 2006 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Feline soft tissue sarcomas are spontaneous, rapidly growing, and aggressive neoplasms that mimic their human counterpart. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effic… |
| ECT | Kranjc et al · BMC Cancer | 2005 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Background: Bleomycin is poorly permeant but potent cytotoxic and radiosensitizing drug. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether a physical drug delivery system - electroporation can in… |
| ECT | Isobe et al · Clin Orthop Relat Res | 2004 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Methotrexate plays a key role in adjuvant chemotherapy for treatment of osteosarcoma, but is used at a high dose because it can pass through a cell membrane only with difficulty. Therefore, … |
| ECT | Jaroszeski et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2002 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Electrochemotherapy is the combined use of a chemotherapeutic agent and pulsed electric fields. Electrical treatment causes an increase in cell membrane permeability which allows the chemoth… |
| Other EP | A Horiuchi, T Nikaido, J Mitsushita, T Toki, I Konishi, S Fujii · International Journal of Cancer | 2000 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Systemic / Abscopal Immune Response | Int. J. Cancer: 88, 640 – 644 (2000) © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Publication of the International Union Against Cancer ENHANCEMENT OF ANTITUMOR EFFECT OF BLEOMYCIN BY LOW-VOLTAGE IN VIVO ELECTRO… |
| ECT | M Hyacinthe, M Jaroszeski, V Dang, D Coppola, R Karl, R Gilbert · Cancer | 1999 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Pulsed electric fields have been shown to increase the effectiveness of antineoplastic agents by temporarily increasing the permeability of cell membranes. This type of drug delivery is call… |
| ECT | Sersˇa et al · Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics | 1997 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Electrochemotherapy combines chemotherapy with electric pulses in order to potentiate anti-tumor effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs. Electrochemotherapy with drugs that normally do not … |
| ECT | Michel et al · Biotechnol Appl Biochem | 2019 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | Primary cell cultures are challenging, but reliable model reflecting tumor response in vitro. The study was designed to examine if the increased electropermeabilization can overcame initial … |
| Other EP | Gill et al · Oncotarget | 2018 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | Background: Osteosarcoma accounts for roughly 60% of all malignant bone tumors in children and young adults. The five-year survival rate for localized tumors after surgery and chemotherapy i… |
| ECT | Cindrič et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2022 | In Silico / Modelling | Computational Model | Electric Field Distribution and Modelling, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Electroporation-based treatments such as electrochemotherapy and irreversible electroporation ablation have sparked interest with respect to their use in medicine. Treatment planning involve… |
| ECT | Cindrič et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2018 | In Silico / Modelling | Computational Model | Electric Field Distribution and Modelling, Electrode Geometry and Placement | Vertebral column is the most frequent site for bone metastases. It has been demonstrated in previous studies that bone metastases can be efficiently treated by electrochemotherapy. We develo… |
| ECT | Campana et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2018 | In Silico / Modelling | Human | Electric Field Distribution and Modelling, Tissue Conductivity and Impedance Change | Electrochemotherapy is an established treatment option for patients with superficially metastatic tumors, mainly malignant melanoma and breast cancer. Based on preliminary experiences, elect… |
| ECT | Ongaro et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2015 | In Silico / Modelling | Computational Model | Electric Field Distribution and Modelling, Electrode Geometry and Placement | Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a local anticancer treatment based on the combination of chemotherapy and short, tumor-permeabilizing, voltage pulses delivered using needle electrodes or plate … |
| ECT | Tosi et al · Med Biol Eng Comput | 2016 | Experimental Biophysics Study | Human | Tissue Conductivity and Impedance Change | Tissue electrical conductivity is correlated with tissue characteristics. In this work, some soft tissue sarcomas (STS) excised from patients have been evaluated in terms of histological cha… |
| Calcium EP | Szewczyk · Oncotarget | 2019 | Correction / Erratum | – | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | [This corrects the article DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.24352.]. |
No publication matches these filters.
Limitations
The counts on this page are bounded by the scope of the source PDF archive and are not a systematic review of the area's literature.
A literature maturity label reflects the number of publications, not their methodological quality: it describes how much literature exists in the area and of what kind, not how strongly the treatment is supported. It does not indicate clinical use, guideline endorsement, reimbursement coverage or regulatory status, and it is not a formal GRADE assessment. The definitions and thresholds of the four tiers are on the Literature Map.
The “clinical publications” figure on this page (25) uses the portal's single definition: primary clinical studies, case series and case reports. Systematic reviews and guidelines are not included. The count feeding the badge threshold is narrower and does not count case reports; in this area 6 publications enter that threshold count across every method together (ECT 5 · IRE 1 · Calcium EP 0 · Gene ET 0 · Other EP 0), whereas the badge at the top of the page rests on the ECT count alone. The two counts are not the same and cannot stand in for one another; the full threshold table is on the Literature Map.
11 of the 64 records in this area enter the threshold count. The remaining 53 are marked in the validation ledger as conflicting, insufficient or out of scoring; they appear in the table below but affect no threshold and no badge. That share (17%) is not equal across areas: it is 13% portal-wide and ranges from 0% to 42% by area. Two areas' badges therefore cannot be compared directly; a lower badge can reflect narrower verification coverage as much as a narrower literature.
Literature maturity on this page is given separately for each clinical method. The methods present in this area are: Electrochemotherapy (ECT), Irreversible electroporation (IRE), Calcium electroporation, Gene electrotransfer, Other electroporation applications. Methods may share the same biophysical basis but they are distinct treatments; evidence gathered for one method cannot be generalised to another.