Jodie Foster was saved from a malignant tumor using electrochemotherapy. No, not Hollywood icon Jodie Foster, but a massive, 23-year-old reticulated python residing at the Chester Zoo in England. 

Chester Zoo staff noticed that Jodie Foster (a nickname derived from her official initials “JF,” which technically stand for “juvenile female”) had become less active in her habitat and had seemingly lost her appetite. That’s when the veterinary staff diagnosed her with fibrosarcoma, a malignant tumor, in her jaw. This obstruction prevented her from swallowing her prey. 

Unfortunately, after her initial surgery, the tumor came back. Knowing a second surgery likely wouldn’t fully resolve the issue, the team worked with cancer specialists at the University of Liverpool to come up with a rather novel idea: electrochemotherapy. 

Desperate times, novel measures

The concept itself isn’t all that radical. Electrochemotherapy, which combines a low dose of a chemotherapy drug (like bleomycin or cisplatin) with short, high-voltage electrical pulses to directly target and destroy cancer cells, is commonly used in human patients as a........

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