The next frontier to treat cancer: electricity

The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center's Kyle Wang was featured in a Wall Street Journal article discussing research and advancements in using electricity as a treatment for cancer.

While pacemakers to keep heartbeats steady and electroconvulsive therapy to treat mental health disorders have been in use for decades, there is more of a focus on applying electricity to treat other diseases including cancer.

Wang, MD, Cancer Center physician researcher and associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology in UC's College of Medicine, studies the use of a device that delivers electricity through a cap worn on patient's heads to treat glioblastoma brain tumors. He is currently an investigator in a trial testing if wearing the device during initial treatment like chemotherapy or radiation will lead to better outcomes.

“Electricity, if it treats cancer, it should treat most kinds of cancer,” Wang told the Wall Street Journal. “The next 10 years are really going to be testing this.”

Read the Wall Street Journal article.

Read more about Wang's research.

Featured photo at top of patient with Optune device arrays being applied. Reproduced with permission from Novocure GmbH ©2021 Novocure GmbH – All rights reserved. Permission for global use was obtained from the patient.