Human tumor cell destruction by distilled water. An in vitro evaluation.

A distilled water lavage is sometimes used during tumor surgery in an effort to kill tumor cells spilled into a cavity or wound. To test the efficacy of this technique, a model study utilized nine different human tumor cell lines, subjected in vitro to hypotonic exposure for 1 to 10 minutes. Only the carcinoid, multiple myeloma, leiomyosarcoma cell lines, and normal lymphocytes were destroyed by the treatment. Although breast, ovarian, gastric, bladder, and melanoma cell lines were damaged to varying degrees, viable cells persisted in all cases. These data suggest that hypotonic shock is not an effective method to kill human tumor cells.