Group: Urogynaecological Tumours
Vulvar Cancer
In vulvar cancer, electrochemotherapy has been investigated as an organ-preserving option where surgical morbidity is high and in recurrent disease. In the palliative setting the aim is symptom and local control.
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)
Early clinical literaturethreshold 10/29
Validated records entering the maturity calculation: 10 (clinical 8, preclinical 0), 34% of the records for this method.
1997–2026
Irreversible electroporation (IRE)
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.
2017–2017
Other electroporation applications
This set does not name a single clinical method; no literature maturity is assigned.
2025–2025
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.
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 | 6% |
| Clinical Study | 12 | 39% |
| Retrospective Clinical Study | 4 | 13% |
| Case Series | 2 | 6% |
| Case Report | 2 | 6% |
| Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | 3 | 10% |
| Review | 2 | 6% |
| Animal Study | 1 | 3% |
| In Vitro Study | 1 | 3% |
| Conference Abstract | 1 | 3% |
| Editorial / Letter | 1 | 3% |
Literature Evidence Table
31 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 | Perrone et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2021 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | – | The ELECHTRA (ELEctroChemoTherapy vulvaR cAncer) project was conceived to collect data on palliative electrochemotherapy (ECT) in vulvar cancer (VC) assessing patients' outcomes (response an… |
| ECT | Cima et al · European Journal of Cancer | 2015 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Recurrent vulvar cancer occurs in an average of 24% of cases after primary treatment with poor prognosis and poor QoL. There is no standard treatment in advanced or recurrent squamocellular … |
| ECT | Vivod et al · Radiol Oncol | 2025 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Background: The quality of life of patients undergoing oncologic treatment has become an important issue in recent years. Owing to potential mutilation following surgery for vulvar cancer, m… |
| ECT | Perrone et al · Int J Gynecol Cancer | 2023 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Objective: The management of vulvar cancer recurrences is complicated by patients' advanced age and comorbidities. Bleomycin-based electrochemotherapy is a potential treatment option in this… |
| ECT | Vivod et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2023 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electrochemotherapy is a local ablative therapy used for the treatment of various superficial and deep-seated tumors. Electrochemotherapy involves the application of electric pulses locally … |
| ECT | Corrado et al · International Journal of Gynecological Cancer | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | 435 Figure 1 A180 Int J Gynecol Cancer 2020;30(Suppl 3):A1–A210 Abstracts Methods Data were retrospectively collected from November 2017 to November 2019 in two Italian oncologic Institutes:… |
| ECT | Perrone et al · Int J Gynecol Cancer | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Systemic / Abscopal Immune Response, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Objective: Vaginal metastases are very rare events with a poor prognosis. To improve the quality of life, local treatments should be considered. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rol… |
| ECT | Rundle et al · International Journal of Gynecological Cancer | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Little is known about VC in Ethiopia. Our aim was to describe demographic and clinical characteristics of VC patients treated at TASH. Methods This is a retrospective study. A structured que… |
| ECT | Rundle et al · International Journal of Gynecological Cancer | 2020 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | /Background ECT utilises pulsed electrical current to transiently increase cell membrane permeability to the cytotoxic agent, bleomycin. We present the use of ECT in patients with recurrent … |
| ECT | Perrone et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2019 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Vulvar cancer (VC) is a rare disease of which recurrence poses management problems due to patients' advanced age and comorbidities, and to the localization of the disease. Palliative treatme… |
| ECT | Perrone et al · J Surg Oncol | 2018 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Background and objectives: Previous studies showed a local tumor control of 80% in patients with relapsed squamous cell vulvar cancer (V-SCC) treated with electrochemotherapy. These results … |
| ECT | Pellegrino et al · Acta Oncol | 2016 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Objective To evaluate the safety, local tumor efficacy and relief of symptoms of electrochemotherapy (ECT) treatment in patients affected by recurrence of vulvar cancer (VC), unsuitable for … |
| ECT | Perrone et al · J Surg Oncol | 2015 | Clinical Study | Human | – | Objective: The primary endpoint of this trial was to assess clinical response (cCR) of squamocellular vulvar cancer (V-SCC) in elderly patients treated with electro-chemotherapy (ECT). Secon… |
| ECT | Perrone et al · Gynecol Oncol | 2013 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | Objective: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an attractive treatment for solid cutaneous tumours with a good response rate (55-92%). No studies have evaluated ECT performed in vulvar cancer. The … |
| ECT | Vivod et al · Acta Oncol | 2024 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | – | Background: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a combined treatment method based on electroporation and simultaneous chemotherapy. In cases where radiotherapy has previously been used, surgery is … |
| ECT | Perrone et al · International Journal of Gynecological Cancer | 2022 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | – | 2022-RA-642-ESGO Figure 1 A) Progression free survival (PFS) and B) Overall survival of patients treated with ECT for recurrent vulvar sequamous cellular carcinoma Conclusion Long follow-up … |
| ECT | Vivod et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2022 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | – | Objective : Pelvic exenteration in women with recurrent vulvar carcinoma is associated with high morbidity and mortality and substantial treatment costs. Because pelvic exenteration severely… |
| ECT | Corrado et al · Int J Gynecol Cancer | 2020 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | Objective: Since vulvar cancer is such a rare disease, the international experience with electrochemotherapy has been derived from only a few centers. The aim of this study was to evaluate c… |
| ECT | Grischke et al · Arch Gynecol Obstet | 2026 | Case Series | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Background: Vulvar carcinoma (VC), a rare cancer, recurs in over a third of women, usually within 2 years. Treatment options other than repeat surgery and radiotherapy are often required in … |
| IRE | Vroomen et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2017 | Case Series | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Objective: To describe the initial experience with irreversible electroporation (IRE) to treat pelvic tumor recurrences. Methods: A retrospective single-center analysis was performed. Advers… |
| ECT | Vivod et al · Radiol Oncol | 2023 | Case Report | Human | Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability, Antivascular Effect and Vessel Disruption | Background: Electrochemotherapy has good local effectiveness in the treatment of vulvar cancer. Most studies have reported the safety and effectiveness of electrochemotherapy for palliative … |
| ECT | Merlo et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2021 | Case Report | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Endometrial carcinoma is the most common gynecological malignancy and the fifth most common malignancy in women. The worldwide incidence is 15.9 new cases per 100,000 women per year, and the… |
| ECT | Perrone et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2021 | Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | Literature Analysis | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an emerging treatment for solid tumors and an attractive research field due to its clinical results. This therapy represents an alternative local treatment to th… |
| ECT | Certelli et al · It Journ Gyn Obs | 2020 | Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | Literature Analysis | – | SOMMARIO There are some problems about the optimal treatment modality of vulvar cancer (VC): unfeasible surgery in elderly women with several comorbidities and the absence of treatments appl… |
| ECT | Tranoulis et al · Int J Gynecol Cancer | 2020 | Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | Human | – | Introduction: Electrochemotherapy involves the use of transient tumor permeabilization via electric pulses in combination with low-dose chemotherapeutic agents. It has recently emerged as an… |
| Other EP | Restaino · Cancers (Basel) | 2025 | Review | Literature Analysis | – | Background: Vulvar carcinoma is an uncommon gynecological tumor primarily affecting older women. Its treatment significantly impacts the quality of life and, not least, aesthetics because of… |
| ECT | Łapińska et al · Molecules | 2022 | Review | Human | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation, Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | Gynecological carcinomas affect an increasing number of women and are associated with poor prognosis. The gold standard treatment plan is mainly based on surgical resection and subsequent ch… |
| ECT | Yabushita et al · Gynecol Oncol | 1997 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Electrochemotherapy is a new approach to the treatment of tumors that takes advantage of the permeabilization of the cell membranes by electric pulses to facilitate the intracellular deliver… |
| ECT | Tang et al · Int J Oncol | 2005 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | – | Electrochemical treatment is among the most effective therapies in the management of cervical malignancy. However, the mechanism of action of this treatment remains largely unknown. Therefor… |
| ECT | Tranoulis et al · International Journal of Gynecological Cancer | 2019 | Conference Abstract | – | – | EP1290 Figure 1 IJGC 2019;29(Suppl 4):A1–A703 THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF CELL POLARITY FOR CANCER DISEASE – THE IMPLICATION OF CANCER REGRESSION BY HUMAN BODY AXES INTERACTION 1 MC Ou*, 2D Ou, 3CC… |
| ECT | De Giorgi et al · Int J Gynecol Cancer | 2020 | Editorial / Letter | Human | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation | This publication has no abstract. |
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 (22) 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 8 publications enter that threshold count across every method together (ECT 8 · IRE 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.
10 of the 31 records in this area enter the threshold count. The remaining 21 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 (32%) 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), 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.