Yahoo! News: Electricity cap used to treat brain tumors

The University of Cincinnati is one of the trial sites for the TRIDENT clinical trial, testing the effectiveness of electrical field treatment for glioblastoma patients earlier in treatment regimens.

Kyle Wang, MD, a University of Cincinnati Cancer Center member and assistant professor of clinical radiation oncology in the UC College of Medicine, explained that human cells naturally use electricity to line up certain cellular structures, including materials called mitotic spindles, that are used for cell division and growth. To prevent tumor cells from growing, an alternating electric field can be focused at the tumor to disrupt this process.

The treatment is delivered through a group of electrical arrays, a configuration of electrodes that looks like a mesh cap worn on the head, called an Optune device.

A number of local TV stations across the country, as well as Yahoo! News, have featured the research in recent segments.

Watch the Yahoo! News segment, originally aired on NewsChannel 5 Nashville.

Read more about the research.

Featured photo at top of patient Siyun Huang, right, wearing an Optune device while talking with University of Cincinnati clinical research professional Alexis Brenner, left. Photo/Leigh Vukov/UC Health.