Journal of Digestive Cancer Report 2019;7(1):26-30

Irreversible Electroporation in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer :Angel and Devil

Jiyoung KEUM 1 ; Hee Seung LEE ; Huapyong KANG ; Jung Hyun JO ; Moon Jae CHUNG ; Jeong Youp PARK ; Seung Woo PARK ; Si Young SONG ; Seungmin BANG

Affiliations

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Keywords

Complication; Irreversible Electroporation; Locally advanced pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic cancer

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer has a very poor prognosis. Complete surgical resection remains the only current curative treatment. Locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) is considered as unresectable because of involvement of celiac and/or mesenteric vessels. The treatment of LAPC is a challenge. Current guidelines suggest systemic therapy. However, the majority of patients will never experience conversion to surgical resection. Thus, in these patients, ablation is an alternative therapy for local control, which causes local destruction while ideally avoiding injury to surrounding healthy tissue. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an energy delivery system, effective in ablating tumors by inducing irreversible membrane destruction of cells. IRE demonstrated to be safe in previous studies. However, it is not free from complications, even serious. Here, we reported two cases of the IRE in LAPC patients.