Colorectal Cancer
Deep Organ Tumours
In colorectal tumours electroporation has been studied in distinct contexts: liver metastases, local recurrence and endoscopically accessible lesions. The clinical evidence in this area is narrower than for other gastrointestinal indications.
52total publications
14clinical studies
24preclinical studies
4reviews
1997–2026publication span
Evidence Status by Regime
Reversible electroporation (RE-ECT)
44publications
10clinical
22preclinical
Early Clinical Evidence
1997–2026 · Near Clinical Adoption
Irreversible electroporation (IRE-ECT)
8publications
4clinical
2preclinical
Early Clinical Evidence
2012–2025 · Near Clinical Adoption
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 16
Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation 16
Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion 10
Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death 10
Necrosis and Necroptosis 7
Apoptosis Induction 6
Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement 6
Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation 3
Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD) 3
Preservation of Nerve and Vascular Structures 3
Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability 3
Optimisation of Pulse Parameters 3
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Randomized Clinical Trial | 1 | 2% |
| Prospective Clinical Study | 2 | 4% |
| Clinical Study | 10 | 19% |
| Retrospective Clinical Study | 1 | 2% |
| Case Report | 4 | 8% |
| Review | 4 | 8% |
| Animal Study | 19 | 37% |
| In Vitro Study | 5 | 10% |
| Preprint | 4 | 8% |
| Editorial / Letter | 1 | 2% |
| Correction / Erratum | 1 | 2% |
Literature Evidence Table
52 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 | Rega et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2021 | Randomized Clinical Trial | Human | – | Background: Currently, 45-55% of rectal cancer patients receive preoperative chemo- radio-therapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer (LARC). The idea of our study is to use Electrochemothera… |
| Reversible | Broholm · Endosc Int Open | 2023 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | Background and study aims Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies, with approximately 20 % of patients having metastatic disease. Local symptoms from the tumor remain a comm… |
| Reversible | Falk Hansen et al · Endosc Int Open | 2020 | Prospective Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Background and study aims Electrochemotherapy is an anticancer treatment that uses electric pulses to facilitate uptake of chemotherapeutic drugs in tumor cells and has proven to have a high… |
| Irreversible | Spiers et al · Dig Surg | 2025 | Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Introduction: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a form of non-thermal ablation that delivers pulses of high-voltage electric current between electrodes. Although IRE has been demonstrate… |
| Reversible | Broholm et al · Surg Endosc | 2023 | Clinical Study | Human | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | Background: The development of new perioperative treatment modalities to activate the immune system in colorectal cancer might have a beneficial effect on reducing the risk of recurrence aft… |
| Reversible | Alkis et al · Electromagn Biol Med | 2022 | Clinical Study | Human | Optimisation of Pulse Parameters | Although chemotherapy (CT) has some adverse effects on healthy tissues and cells, it is widely preferred for treating patients with cancer. Drug resistance is one of the major impediments to… |
| Irreversible | Meijerink et al · Radiology | 2021 | Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Background Irreversible electroporation (IRE), an ablative technique that uses high-voltage electrical pulses, has shown promise for eradicating tumors near critical structures, including bl… |
| Reversible | Broholm et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology | 2019 | Clinical Study | Human | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | Electroporation is a method used to permeabilize cell membranes with high voltage pulses. As a result, an increased flow of molecules across the cell membrane is observed, and allows passage … |
| Reversible | Bourke et al · Breast Cancer Res Treat | 2016 | Clinical Study | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Purpose: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is the application of electric pulses to tumour tissue to render the cell membranes permeable to usually impermeant hydrophilic anti-cancer drugs, thereby … |
| Reversible | Frandsen et al · PLoS One | 2015 | Clinical Study | Human | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Background: Calcium electroporation describes the use of high voltage electric pulses to introduce supraphysiological calcium concentrations into cells. This promising method is currently in… |
| Reversible | Scala et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO) | 2015 | Clinical Study | Human | Preservation of Nerve and Vascular Structures | U. Pace1,*, D. Rega1, S. Perdona’2, D. Scala1, P. Delrio1 1 Divisione di Oncologia Chirurgica Colorettale Dipartimento di Oncologia Addominale istituto nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei … |
| Irreversible | Ricke et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2015 | Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Purpose: To assess safety and efficacy of irreversible electroporation (IRE) of lung malignancies. Materials and methods: Patients with primary and secondary lung malignancies and preserved … |
| Reversible | Rega et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO) | 2014 | Clinical Study | Human | – | The incidence of rectal cancer recurrence after surgery is 5-45%. Extended Pelvic resection such as pelvic exentration and abdominosacral composite resection which entails En-bloc resection … |
| Irreversible | Narayanan et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2024 | Retrospective Clinical Study | Human | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | 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… |
| Reversible | Adeyeye · J Clin Med | 2025 | Case Report | Human | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion, Apoptosis Induction | Background/Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy, the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality, and the third most prevalent tumor. … |
| Reversible | Rega et al · J Clin Med | 2022 | Case Report | Human | – | Purpose: Surgery, radiotherapy, and oncological treatment (chemotherapy and antineoplastic antibodies) are standard treatments of rectal cancer. ECT has shown its effectiveness and suitabili… |
| Reversible | Ferioli et al · Anticancer Drugs | 2020 | Case Report | Human | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | Anal canal adenocarcinoma is generally treated like rectal cancer. Surgery is the standard treatment in early stages and neoadjuvant chemoradiation in locally advanced tumors. Local recurren… |
| Reversible | Borgognoni et al · Future Oncol | 2014 | Case Report | Human | – | We report the case of an old woman with an eccrine porocarcinoma unusually localized in the perianal area treated by electrochemotherapy, a new technique, emerging as a very effective local … |
| Reversible | Pérez-Santiago et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2026 | Review | Literature Analysis | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death | Background: Colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) represent a major determinant of prognosis in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and account for a substantial proportion of cancer-rel… |
| Reversible | Adeyeye et al · J Clin Med | 2025 | Review | Literature Analysis | Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | Background: Endoscopic Electroporation (EE) is an innovative minimally invasive therapy that utilises short electrical pulses combined with intratumoural (IT) calcium or IT/intravenous (IV) … |
| Irreversible | Zhang et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2025 | Review | Literature Analysis | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) poses a significant challenge in oncology due to its high incidence and poor prognosis in unresectable cases. Current treatments, including surgical resect… |
| Reversible | Schipilliti et al · Radiol Oncol | 2022 | Review | Human | – | Background: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a minimally invasive and safe treatment gaining positive and long-lasting antitumoral results that are receiving the attention of the scientific comm… |
| Reversible | De · Mol Ther Nucleic Acids | 2025 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA), Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Gene electrotransfer (GET) has recently emerged as an effective nonviral approach for plasmid DNA (pDNA) delivery in gene therapy for several pathologies, including cancer. Multiple mechanis… |
| Reversible | Rossi et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2019 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (nsPEF), Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD) | Depending on the initiating stimulus, cancer cell death can be immunogenic or non-immunogenic. Inducers of immunogenic cell death (ICD) rely on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress for the traf… |
| Reversible | Tremble et al · Cancer Lett | 2019 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Cisplatin Accumulation, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electrochemotherapy is an emerging treatment modality for cancer patients which can effectively reduce tumour burden and induce immunogenic cell death. Electrochemotherapy is most commonly u… |
| Reversible | Falk et al · Oncoimmunology | 2017 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electroporation is used in cancer treatment because of its ability to increase local cytotoxicity of e.g. bleomycin (electrochemotherapy) and calcium (calcium electroporation). Calcium elect… |
| Reversible | Kulbacka et al · Bioelectrochemistry | 2016 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Nanocarriers and electroporation (also named electropermeabilization) are convenient methods to increase drug transport. In the current study, we present an effective support of drug deliver… |
| Reversible | Calvet et al · Oncoimmunology | 2014 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD), Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a local cancer treatment that has been used over the course of more than 2 decades for the removal of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumors. Several lines of evidenc… |
| Reversible | Chopinet · J Membr Biol | 2013 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA) | Gene electrotransfection using micro- or millisecond electric pulses is a well-established method for safe gene transfer. For efficient transfection, plasmid DNA has to reach the nucleus. Sh… |
| Irreversible | Srimathveeravalli et al · J Vasc Interv Radiol | 2013 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Purpose: To study the feasibility of a novel endorectal electrode for the creation of focal ablations of the rectal wall with the use of irreversible electroporation (IRE). Materials and met… |
| Reversible | Bourke et al · European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO) | 2012 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | – | This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of preoperative ultrasound with FNA for detecting axillary metastases in invasive breast cancer in a medium sized district general hospital. Methods… |
| Irreversible | Schoellnast et al · Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol | 2012 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Purpose: To evaluate the effects of irreversible electroporation (IRE) on the rectum wall after IRE applied adjacent to the rectum. Material and methods: CT-guided IRE adjacent to the rectum… |
| Reversible | Gunji et al · Hepatogastroenterology | 2005 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Background/aims: Electrochemotherapy, which uses two parallel electrodes for delivery of electric pulses, may be useful for treatment of tumor nodules. However, in clinical fields, tumors th… |
| Reversible | Zheng · World J Gastroenterol | 2005 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation, Necrosis and Necroptosis | Aim: To evaluate the anti-tumor effects and possible involvement of anti-tumor immunity of electrochemotherapy (ECT) employing electroporation and bleomycin in human colon cancer xenografts … |
| Reversible | Kuriyama et al · Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology | 2001 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Background: Although electrochemotherapy appears promising for the treatment of superficial tumors, its usefulness against internal tumors, such as colorectal carcinoma (CRC), has not been w… |
| Reversible | Kuriyama et al · Int J Oncol | 2000 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Mice bearing subcutaneously established colorectal carcinoma (CRC) were given intratumoral, intravenous or intraperitoneal injection of various doses of bleomycin (BLM), followed by the deli… |
| Reversible | Kuriyama et al · Open MIND | 2000 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | – | 44 páginas |
| Reversible | Mitoro et al · Int J Oncol | 2000 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Effectiveness of electrochemotherapy against colorectal carcinoma (CRC) was evaluated in a mouse model. When mice with a subcutaneously established CRC tumor were administered intratumorally… |
| Reversible | Kuriyama et al · Int J Oncol | 1999 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electropermeabilization was shown to markedly increase the sensitivity of murine colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cells to bleomycin (BLM), resulting in more than 2,500-fold higher susceptibility … |
| Reversible | Kuriyama et al · Int J Oncol | 1999 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Effectiveness of electrochemotherapy against colorectal carcinoma (CRC) was investigated in vitro using murine CRC cell lines. Electropermeabilization did not increase the sensitivity of CRC… |
| Reversible | Tada et al · Surg Today | 1997 | Animal Study | Animal (In Vivo) | Increased Intracellular Bleomycin Accumulation | Electrochemotherapy is a novel antitumor treatment involving the systemic administration of bleomycin followed by the delivery of electrical pulses to the tumor. The present study investigat… |
| Reversible | Szewczyk · Biol Res | 2025 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress, Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion | Background: Electroporation (EP) leverages electric pulses to permeabilize cell membranes, enabling the delivery of therapeutic agents like calcium in cancer treatment. Calcium electroporati… |
| Reversible | Szlasa et al · Pharmaceuticals (Basel) | 2024 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | – | Colon cancer (CC) management includes surgery, radio- and chemotherapy based on treatment with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or its derivatives. However, its application is limited to low-grade carc… |
| Reversible | Kulbacka · Cancers (Basel) | 2021 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion, Optimisation of Pulse Parameters | (1) Background: Calcium electroporation (CaEP) is based on the application of electrical pulses to permeabilize cells (electroporation) and allow cytotoxic doses of calcium to enter the cell… |
| Reversible | Gibot et al · Cancers (Basel) | 2020 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Calcium Electroporation and ATP Depletion, DNA Damage and Double-Strand Breaks | Adolescent cancer survivors present increased risks of developing secondary malignancies due to cancer therapy. Electrochemotherapy is a promising anti-cancer approach that potentiates the c… |
| Reversible | Griseti et al · Sci Rep | 2019 | In Vitro Study | Cell Culture | Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation, Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug Permeability | Cold atmospheric plasma and more recently, plasma-activated liquids (culture media, water or buffered solutions previously exposed to plasma), are gathering momentum in cancer cells treatmen… |
| Reversible | Adeyeye et al · – | 2026 | Preprint | – | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | Background/Objectives: Endoscopic electroporation — including electrochemotherapy, calcium electroporation, irreversible electroporation and pulsed-field ablation — is an intended non-therma… |
| Reversible | Adeyeye · – | 2025 | Preprint | – | Apoptosis Induction, Necrosis and Necroptosis | Background/Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy, the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality, and the third most prevalent tumor. … |
| Reversible | Adeyeye et al · – | 2025 | Preprint | Cell Culture | Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia Requirement | Background: Endoscopic Electroporation (EE) is an innovative minimally invasive therapy that utilises short electrical pulses combined with intratumoural (IT) calcium or IT/ intravenous (IV)… |
| Irreversible | Spiers et al · – | 2024 | Preprint | – | Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell Death, Reversible Membrane Permeabilisation | : Background: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a form of non-thermal ablation that delivers pulses of high voltage electrical current between electrodes. The role of IRE in the treatmen… |
| Reversible | Bourke et al · Breast Cancer Res Treat | 2017 | Editorial / Letter | Human | – | , We read with interest Bourke et al.’s paper on the treatment of cutaneous metastases from breast cancer (BC) with electrochemotherapy (ECT) [1]. In a highly pretreated population—whose sur… |
| Reversible | Bourke et al · Breast Cancer Res Treat | 2017 | Correction / Erratum | – | – | astases of breast cancer with electrochemotherapy: a useful contributor to cutaneous disease control M. Bourke1 • D. Soden1 • A. J. P. Clover1,2 Published online: 27 May 2017 Ó Springer Scie… |
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.