Bone & Soft Tissue Sarcomas
Musculoskeletal & CNS
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.
59total publications
18clinical studies
24preclinical studies
9reviews
1997–2026publication span
Evidence Status by Regime
Reversible electroporation (RE-ECT)
49publications
17clinical
20preclinical
Clinical Evidence
1997–2026 · In Routine Clinical Use
Irreversible electroporation (IRE-ECT)
10publications
1clinical
4preclinical
Exploratory Evidence
2011–2023 · Early Research Stage
Mechanisms Reported in This Area
Terms were detected by automatic matching over publication abstracts; the figure gives the number of publications containing the term.
Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation 17
Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation 15
Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death 13
Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation 8
Electric Field Distribution and Modelling 8
Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability 7
Electrode Geometry and Placement 7
Necrosis and Necroptosis 5
Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA) 3
Systemic / Abscopal Immune Response 2
Interleukin-12 Mediated Immune Stimulation 2
Tissue Conductivity and Impedance Change 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 evidence tier of the study type, the same scale as the evidence map.
| Study type | Publications | Share within this area |
|---|---|---|
| Prospective Clinical Study | 2 | 3% |
| Clinical Study | 12 | 20% |
| Retrospective Clinical Study | 1 | 2% |
| Case Series | 3 | 5% |
| Case Report | 8 | 14% |
| Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis | 1 | 2% |
| Review | 8 | 14% |
| Animal Study | 21 | 36% |
| In Vitro Study | 1 | 2% |
| In Silico / Modelling | 2 | 3% |
Literature Evidence Table
59 publications listed in order of evidence strength. Click a title to open the citation, mechanism and full abstract drawer.
| Regime | Publication | Year | Study type | Model | Mechanism | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Cindrič et al · Technol Cancer Res Treat | 2018 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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 … |
| Reversible | 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 … |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Sundararajan et al · JCPCR | 2019 | Clinical Study | Human | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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 … |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Tosi et al · Med Biol Eng Comput | 2016 | Clinical 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Shimizu et al · J Orthop Sci | 2003 | Clinical Study | 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… |
| Reversible | M Hyacinthe, M Jaroszeski, V Dang, D Coppola, R Karl, R Gilbert · Cancer | 1999 | Clinical Study | Human | 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… |
| Reversible | Czarnecka et al · Eur J Surg Oncol | 2026 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | – | Background: Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) is a rare subtype of soft tissue sarcoma (STS). The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of multidisciplinary treatment of CCS an… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Deschamps et al · Eur J Cancer | 2023 | Case Series | 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… |
| Irreversible | Martin et al · BMC Cancer | 2014 | Case Series | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | Ondráčková · Adv Sci (Weinh) | 2026 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Tissue Conductivity and Impedance Change | Electrical lesioning of nervous tissue is a common surgical intervention and traditionally is carried out using high-amplitude high-frequency currents. These procedures ablate tissue via an … |
| Reversible | Deschamps et al · Eur Radiol Exp | 2025 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | 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… |
| Reversible | Müller et al · Sci Rep | 2024 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Thermal Effect and Joule Heating, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Medical devices and technologies must undergo extensive testing and validation before being certified for public healthcare use, especially in oncology where a high research focus is on new … |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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 … |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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, … |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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 … |
| Irreversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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… |
| Reversible | 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 … |
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. Study type and mechanism labels are derived automatically; for critical decisions consult the full texts of the publications listed. The evidence level reflects the number of publications, not their methodological quality.