A versatile multilevel converter platform for cancer treatment using irreversible electroporation

Abstract

Electroporation is an effective technique based on applying an electric field to cells, commonly used to increase the effectivity of drug and gene delivery. When the applied electric field is strong enough, it can be used for selective cell death with promising results in cancer treatment. This paper proposes the development of a modular multilevel topology in order to provide a high-performance tool for research in electroporation. The proposed converter based on a scalable multicell approach is detailed and analyzed in this paper, and an experimental prototype has been designed and built. The experimental results prove the feasibility of this proposal to enable advanced electroporation techniques.