A new cancer treatment that `zaps' away tumours using electrical pulses is being pioneered at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital.



The doctors involved say they are very excited about the potential of the treatment, called `irreversible electroporation' as a cure for early-stage cancer.

In animal tests it completely destroyed tumours within a fortnight, with little or no damage to the surrounding tissue.

The Alfred hospital's professor of radiology Ken Thomson with 81-year-old patient Thomas Monaghan. Photo: Simon Schluter.

This month Melbourne's The Alfred hospital became the first hospital in the world to test the technique on human liver and kidney cancer patients.