Measurement and comparison of dielectric properties of human pancreatic tumours, healthy tissues and porcine tissues ex vivo between 1Hz and 1MHz

• Published in: Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2025-02, Vol.161, p.108821, Article 108821
• Main Authors: Le Berre, Théo, Marchalot, Julien, Frénéa-Robin, Marie, Cros, Jérôme, Prat, Frédéric, Rival, Guilhem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; bioelectrochemistry; Bioengineering; Electric Conductivity; Electric Impedance; Ex vivo impedance measurement; Humans; Life Sciences; pancreas; Pancreas - pathology; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic Neoplasms - pathology; Pancreatic tissue; radio waves; Swine; Tissue dielectric properties; Tumour-bearing tissues
• ISSN: 1567-5394; 1878-562X; 1878-562X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2024.108821

•Dielectric properties of ex vivo human and pig pancreas were measured.•Differences between human healthy and tumorous pancreas were investigated.•A significant difference with IT IS database was pointed out.•Tumour-bearing tissues are significantly more conductive than healthy tissues.•Ex vivo pig pancreas is a good study model in replacement for human pancreas. The dielectric properties of pancreatic tissues from human healthy and tumour-bearing tissues have been extracted from impedance measurement on ex vivo, freshly excised samples. They are compared to pig pancreas samples, measured following the same protocol. The purpose is to add data to the scarce literature on the properties of the human pancreas and pancreatic tumours, for treatment planning, tissue identification and numerical simulations. The conductivity measured at 500 kHz for human healthy pancreas is 0.26 S/m, while the conductivity of tumour-bearing tissues is 0.44 S/m. Those values differ significantly from that listed in the IT IS database at 0.57 S/m, suggesting an update might be to consider. However, measures of relative permittivity are in accordance with the database with a value of approximately 2.3x103. Ex vivo porcine model, while being less conductive than human pancreas with 0.16 S/m at the same frequency, is deemed a relevant model when studying pancreatic applications of electromagnetic fields-based treatments, such as radiofrequency ablation.