Electrical Characterization of Tongue Tissue During Electroporation: Ex Vivo and Computational Study

Electroporation (EP)-based cancer therapies, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT) and irreversible EP (IRE), require accurate characterization of tissue electrical properties to properly understand the applied electric field distribution and ensure effective treatment. This article presents an ex vivo measurement and modeling framework for evaluating the electrical behavior of tongue tissue under pulsed electric fields (PEFs). Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to determine the natural conductivity of the tissue, while voltage–current ( V – I ) measurements during EP were combined with a realistic 3-D finite element model to estimate the field-dependent conductivity from 10 to 140 V. Results show an initial conductivity of 0.299 S/m and a 178% increase during EP. The conductivity increase leads to higher treatment currents. If the conductivity increase is not considered, currents can be underestimated by up to 40%. Understanding EP current is important for treatment feedback, treatment planning, and engineering. The proposed measurement approach enables reproducible and quantitative estimation of tissue conductivity under nonuniform electric fields. The framework also includes a procedure for assessing measurement bias by statistically evaluating V – I measurements over sequential EP applications, ensuring reliability and supporting future uncertainty quantification.