Sub-centimeter Probes for Low-Frequency Alternating Electric Field (AEF) Measurements in Rodent Models of Brain Cancer

Marinus H. Daling, David Durfee, Turner Shelton, Samuel Simonian, Keith Schubert, Sabbir Khan, Chirag B. Patel, Vincent W. Leung

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Keywords: Electric Field Probe, Tumor Treating Fields, Alternating Electric Fields

TL;DR: The design and measurement of a 3mm, 200kHz E-field probe for Brain Tumor Research

Abstract: The FDA has approved therapeutic low frequency alternating electric fields (AEFs), called tumor treating fields (TTFields), for the treatment of patients with glioblastoma, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and non-small cell lung cancer. Accurate measurements of these fields in rodent models are critical for the pre-clinical development and testing of combinatorial therapeutic strategies involving AEF before they can be translated to human clinical trials. This paper presents a novel 3mm diameter electric field probe capable of measuring such fields. The probe demonstrates a measurable field range of 0.1-10 Vpp/cm at 200 kHz. The proposed probe significantly outperforms a commercially available stub probe with a measurement error of 18 % in a known field, compared to an error of 94.4 % for the commercial probe. Measurement of an applied AEF in a rat skull, with electrodes similar to those used in clinical trials, is also demonstrated with a maximum measurement error of ±5.5 % between three different probes. This simple sensor is made from commercially available components and operates over a wide range of frequencies and field strengths, making it ideal for preclinical AEF validation and potentially transferable to future clinical applications.

Track: 13. General sensing and systems

NominateReviewer: Vincent W. Leung ([e-mail])

Submission Number: 121