Group: Special Indications
Electrochemotherapy in Metastatic Disease
The role of electrochemotherapy in metastatic disease concerns how the contribution of a local method to systemic disease should be defined. Symptom palliation, local control in oligometastatic disease and the possibility of an abscopal response when combined with immunotherapy are the three main research themes of this area.
Clinical publications: randomized, prospective and retrospective studies, case series and case reports. Preclinical publications: animal, in vitro, modelling and experimental biophysics studies.
Health Technology Assessments in This Area
This portal counts the volume of the literature; it does not assess whether a procedure is effective. The bodies below do make that assessment, and their conclusions are independent of how large the literature is: a large literature does not mean the evidence was found sufficient.
- NICE · 2013 · Electrochemotherapy in skin metastases (HealthTech htg305, formerly IPG446)
- NICE · 2013 · IRE in liver metastases (HealthTech htg304, formerly IPG445)
- NICE · 2013 · IRE in primary lung cancer and lung metastases (HealthTech htg302, formerly IPG441)
The full set with citations is on the Regulatory Documents page. The portal does not interpret these reports on its own behalf; for the current decision consult the issuing body’s own publication.
Clinical and Technical Data Reported in the Publications
The sum of the fields reported in the full text of 21 of the 23 publications in this area. The numbers are summed, not interpreted.
The totals are not a count of unique patients: the same cohort may have been reported in more than one publication.
Literature Status by Method
Publication count, clinical and preclinical split, literature volume 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)
Exploratory / low-volume literaturethreshold 0/13 records
No record for this method feeds the volume label.
1998–2026
Irreversible electroporation (IRE)
Exploratory / low-volume literaturethreshold 0/7 records
No record for this method feeds the volume label.
2016–2024
Gene electrotransfer
Exploratory / low-volume literaturethreshold 0/2 records
No record for this method feeds the volume label.
2013–2015
Other electroporation applications
This set does not name a single clinical method; no literature volume is assigned.
2025–2025
Mechanisms Mentioned in Abstracts
The figure is the number of abstracts mentioning the mechanism. A mention does not mean it was demonstrated in that study.
Study Type Distribution
The percentage gives the share of the whole area.
| Study type | Publications | Share within this area |
|---|---|---|
| Prospective Clinical Study | 1 | 4% |
| Clinical Study | 2 | 9% |
| Retrospective Clinical Study | 2 | 9% |
| Case Series | 1 | 4% |
| Case Report | 4 | 17% |
| Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | 1 | 4% |
| Review | 5 | 22% |
| Animal Study | 5 | 22% |
| In Vitro Study | 1 | 4% |
| Preprint | 1 | 4% |
Publication Table
23 publication records sorted by study design. Click a title to open the citation, mechanism and full abstract drawer.
Classifications are generated automatically and can be wrong for individual records. Methodology
| Regime | Publication | Year | Study type | Model | Mechanism | Patients / lesions | Device | Agent and route | Reported outcome | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other EP | Moreno-Gonzalez et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2025 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | – | 28 / 42 | Aliya | – | complete response 6% (16 patients) | Background : The AFFINITY trial (NCT05890872) is a prospective, non-randomized, open-label, single-arm study evaluating the safety, immunological impact, and preliminary efficacy of Aliya pu… |
| ECT | Ranieri et al · Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | – | Cliniporator VITAE | bleomycin · intravenous | – | Objective: The aim of this investigation focuses on the evaluation of the efficacy of deep-seated Electrochemotherapy (ECT) in terms of pain relief and local objective response, in pre-treat… |
| ECT | Farré Alegre et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology | 2012 | Clinical Study | Human | – | 14 | – | – | complete response 5 count (14 patients) | This publication has no abstract. |
| IRE | Narayanan · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2024 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | 19 / 24 | NanoKnife | – | tumour volume change 83.3% (24 lesions) | Purpose: Demonstrating the safety and efficacy of percutaneous irreversible electroporation (IRE) for the treatment of lymph node metastases. Materials and methods: An IRB-approved, single-c… |
| IRE | Narayanan et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2024 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | 6 / 7 | NanoKnife | – | local control 4 count (6 patients) | Purpose: A single-center retrospective study was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive irreversible electroporation (IRE) to treat metastatic adrenal tumors. Ma… |
| IRE | Underhill et al · The American Surgeon™ | 2016 | Case Series | Human | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | 15 | – | – | – | This publication has no abstract. |
| ECT | Fiore et al · Reports (MDPI) | 2026 | Case Report | Human | Electrode Geometry and Placement, Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | 1 / 1 | Cliniporator | bleomycin · intravenous | complete response 100% (1 lesions) | Background and Clinical Significance : Bone involvement is a common and debilitating manifestation of advanced malignancies, with a substantial negative impact on patients' functional status… |
| IRE | Klein et al · Clin Case Rep | 2017 | Case Report | Human | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | 1 / 2 | Cliniporator VITAE | bleomycin · intravenous | tumour volume change 0 count (1 patients) | The combination of Irreversible Electroporation and Electrochemotherapy (IRECT) was well tolerated, safe, and had antitumor activity in this case study of a patient with lymph node metastase… |
| ECT | Spugnini et al · In Vivo | 2008 | Case Report | Animal (In Vivo) | – | – | – | other · intravenous | – | Canine apocrine gland carcinoma is a locally aggressive neoplasm that can occasionally lead to metastatic spread, thus mimicking the behavior of their human counterpart. In this paper we des… |
| ECT | Serša et al · Tumori | 2000 | Case Report | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | 1 / 1 | Jouan GHT 1287 electropulsator | bleomycin · intravenous | tumour volume change 0% (1 lesions) | A metastasis of hypernephroma was treated by electrochemotherapy with bleomycin. Electrochemotherapy consists of chemotherapy followed by local application of electric pulses to the tumor in… |
| ECT | Bocchi et al · J Clin Med | 2023 | Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | Literature Analysis | – | – | – | – | – | Background and aim: Cancers are one of the most frequent causes of death and disability in humans. Skeletal involvement has a major impact on the quality of life and prognosis of cancer pati… |
| ECT | Feddal et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2025 | Review | Human | – | – | – | bleomycin · intravenous | – | Bone is the third most common site for metastases, frequently leading to skeletal-related events (SREs) such as pain, metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC), and pathological fr… |
| ECT | Mahdavi et al · Biomedicines | 2025 | Review | Literature Analysis | Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD), Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Combination | – | – | other | – | Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized cancer immunotherapy by enhancing T-cell-mediated anti-tumor responses in solid malignancies. However, their efficacy is often limited… |
| Gene ET | Sersa et al · Cancer Immunol Immunother | 2015 | Review | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA), Systemic / Abscopal Immune Response | – | – | – | – | Electroporation is a platform technology for drug and gene delivery. When applied to cell in vitro or tissues in vivo, it leads to an increase in membrane permeability for molecules which ot… |
| ECT | Grocott et al · Curr Opin Support Palliat Care | 2013 | Review | Human | – | – | – | bleomycin | – | Purpose of review: This article describes why this review is timely and relevant. To report on the recent research, which advances our understanding and practice of palliative wound care (wo… |
| ECT | Jarm et al · Expert Rev Anticancer Ther | 2010 | Review | Human | Antivascular Effect and Vessel Disruption, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | – | – | bleomycin | – | Solid tumors of various etiologies can be treated efficiently by electrochemotherapy (ECT), a combined use of electroporation (EP) and chemotherapeutic drugs, such as bleomycin and cisplatin… |
| IRE | Han et al · Small | 2022 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | – | – | – | – | To circumvent the limitations of conventional cancer immunotherapy, it is critical to prime antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to initiate the cancer-immune cycle. Here, the authors develop a m… |
| IRE | Lee et al · Sci Rep | 2019 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | – | BTX ECM830 | – | – | Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a newly developed non-thermal ablative therapy. During the IRE procedure, the permeability of the cell membrane is irreversibly changed by application o… |
| ECT | Josserand et al · J Control Release | 2016 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | – | S20 generator | bleomycin · intravenous | tumour volume change 109% (12 animals) | Surgery is often the first therapeutic indication in cancer. Patient survival essentially depends on the completeness of tumor resection. This is a major challenge, particularly in patients … |
| Gene ET | Shibata et al · Anticancer Res | 2013 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA) | – | Nepa Gene | plasmid DNA · intratumoural | – | Cancer metastasis contributes significantly to cancer mortality and is facilitated by lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factors-C and D (VEGF-C and VEGF-D) are … |
| ECT | Orlowski et al · Anticancer Drugs | 1998 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | – | – | – | – | Murine Lewis lung (3LL) tumors are characterized by the appearance of lung metastases after a regular period following their s.c. transplantation. We tested the respective efficiencies of va… |
| IRE | Qin et al · Mol Med Rep | 2016 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | – | electric pulse therapeutic system | – | – | The effects of irreversible electroporation (IRE) on the proliferation, migration, invasion and adhesion of human cervical cancer cell lines HeLa and SiHa were investigated in the present st… |
| ECT | Reyes-Habito et al · – | 2018 | Preprint | – | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | – | – | – | – | Introduction: Cutaneous metastasis and malignant wounds decrease the quality of life of cancer patients. Electrochemotherapy is a localized treatment which enhances the uptake of chemotherap… |
No publication matches these filters.
Limitations
Publication volume is not clinical efficacy or evidence quality. It describes how much literature exists in the area and of what kind; it does not indicate how strongly the treatment is supported, guideline endorsement or regulatory status.
Patient totals are not a count of unique patients. The same cohort may have been reported in more than one publication; the totals are not a meta-analysis.
How the corpus was assembled, the tier thresholds, the definition of a clinical publication and why methods are counted separately: Literature Map.