Eur. Phys. J. E (2012) 35: 42
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2012-12042-9

Regular Article

A toy model of fractal glioma development under RF electric field treatment

Department of Physics, Technion, 32000, Haifa, Israel

^* e-mail: iomin@physics.technion.ac.il

Received: 5 January 2012
Revised: 4 May 2012
Accepted: 9 May 2012
Published online: 5 June 2012

Abstract

A toy model for glioma treatment by a radio frequency electric field is suggested. This low-intensity, intermediate-frequency alternating electric field is known as the tumor-treating field (TTF). In the framework of this model the efficiency of this TTF is estimated, and the interplay between the TTF and the migration-proliferation dichotomy of cancer cells is considered. The model is based on a modification of a comb model for cancer cells, where the migration-proliferation dichotomy becomes naturally apparent. Considering glioma cancer as a fractal dielectric composite of cancer cells and normal tissue cells, a new effective mechanism of glioma treatment is suggested in the form of a giant enhancement of the TTF. This leads to the irreversible electroporation that may be an effective non-invasive method of treating brain cancer.