Use of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields for the treatment of cancer

Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2018 Jan 1;23(2):284-297. doi: 10.2741/4591.

Abstract

Cancer treatment and treatment options are quite limited in circumstances such as when the tumor is inoperable, in brain cancers when the drugs cannot penetrate the blood-brain-barrier, or when there is no tumor-specific target for generation of effective therapeutic antibodies. Despite the fact that electromagnetic fields (EMF) in medicine have been used for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, the use of non-ionizing EMF for cancer treatment is a new emerging concept. Here we summarize the history of EMF from the 1890's to the novel and new innovative methods that target and treat cancer by non-ionizing radiation.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Movement / genetics
  • Cell Proliferation / genetics
  • Electromagnetic Fields*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms / genetics
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Neoplasms / therapy*