Table 2.

Summary of typical cancer treatment methods.

Aspect	Radiotherapy	Chemotherapy	Surgery	ECT
Targeted area	Limited to the treated region, with minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissues	Systemic, affecting the entire body and impacting both cancerous and healthy cells	Localized, focusing on the removal of the tumor and surrounding tissues	Localized, based on electrodes and electric field spatial distribution
Side effects	Depends on the treated site and area, including fatigue, hair loss, nausea, vomiting; increased secondary cancer risk	Widespread side effects, including nausea, vomiting, fatigue, hair loss, general long-term toxicity; increased secondary cancer risk	Varies based on the extent of the surgery, including pain, potential scarring, and impaired function	Bleeding, ulceration of treated area, muscle contraction during pulse application; mild to moderate pain depending on the treatment site
Treatment duration	Multiple sessions during the time period	Administered in cycles, with treatment periods and breaks to allow recovery	Duration varies based on the complexity of the surgery and recovery time	Usually one or two procedures
Esthetics and function of the targeted area	Depends on the site, including skin changes, impaired function of the site	Minimal impact on function and esthetics	Depends on the scope of surgery, could lead to impaired function and esthetics	Minimal impact on esthetics and function of treated area
Limitations	Radio-resistance, maximum dosage	Multidrug resistance, maximum dosage of the drug	Success/possibility of surgery depends on the extent surrounding neurovascular structures	The treatment success depends on spatial pulsed electric field distribution, which is highly affected by tissue heterogeneity, requires direct contact of the electrodes with the tumor