News

February 7, 2020

By Cheryl Guttman Krader, BS, Pharm

Nano-Pulse Stimulation (NPS, Pulse Biosciences) is an exciting new technology that has demonstrated efficacy for clearing various benign cutaneous lesions and holds great interest for its potential application to treat malignancies, according to Thomas E. Rohrer, M.D.

“I became interested in NPS because it is completely different from any of the other energy modalities we use in dermatologic surgery,” says Dr. Rohrer, who is in private practice, SkinCare Physicians, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

“NPS acts via a unique cell-specific, non-thermal mechanism to induce regulated cell death without causing damage to the non-cellular dermis. NPS also appears to stimulate an adaptive immune response, suggesting that, when used to treat malignancies, it could potentially clear or prevent metastatic sites in addition to eliminating the primary tumor.”

NPS is performed under local anesthesia using a treatment tip containing a microarray of needles that deliver high amplitude, ultrashort (nanosecond range) electrical pulses to the target lesion.

Application of the electrical energy leads to the immediate appearance of nanometer size holes in the cell membrane, mitochondrial membrane and endoplasmic reticulum with subsequent changes in calcium flux and a cascade of events resulting in regulated cell death.

Click to view full article