Helium atmospheric pressure plasma jet aiding chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer

Abstract

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) show great potential for biomedical applications. One of the most interesting applications is cancer treatment where APPJ was used effectively in a wide number of different scenarios and in some cases it even exhibited selectivity in treating cancer while leaving the healthy tissue intact. One of the newest developments is plasma enhanced chemotherapy (PEC) where CAP is used synergistically with chemotherapy. PEC promises not only to make chemotherapy more effective (achieving the same results with lower drug doses) but also to enable therapy on resistant cancers. Being able to reduce the drug does and still offer an effective treatment can have significant implications on the patient by limiting the harmful side effects of chemotherapy. In addition, PEC can allow for the treatment of previously untreated cancer.