The effects of a single high voltage electrical stimulation with an anticancer drug on in vivo growing malignant tumors.

Giving a high voltage electrical stimulation (5 kv/cm, 2 msec) under bleomycin administration (5 mg/body, im) resulted in a significant size decrease of subcutaneously inoculated AH-109A hepatocellular carcinomas in Donryu rats. The tumor size decreased to an average 17 per cent of the initial mass 4 days after the treatment and the average survival period was extended to almost 200 per cent of that of the control. However, neither high voltage electrical stimulation nor bleomycin administration alone demonstrated an anticancer effect. It was thus concluded that the concomitant use of a high voltage electrical stimulation and an anticancer drug has the potential to be effectively applied in cancer treatment.