Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2016; 22(44): 9661-9673
Published online Nov 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i44.9661
Percutaneous ablation of pancreatic cancer
Mirko D’Onofrio, Valentina Ciaravino, Riccardo De Robertis, Emilio Barbi, Roberto Salvia, Roberto Girelli, Salvatore Paiella, Camilla Gasparini, Nicolò Cardobi, Claudio Bassi
Mirko D’Onofrio, Valentina Ciaravino, Riccardo De Robertis, Camilla Gasparini, Nicolò Cardobi, Department of Radiology, G.B. Rossi Hospital, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
Riccardo De Robertis, Emilio Barbi, Department of Radiology, Casa di Cura Dott, Pederzoli, 37019 Peschiera del Garda (VR), Italy
Roberto Salvia, Salvatore Paiella, Claudio Bassi, Department of Surgery, G.B. Rossi Hospital, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
Roberto Girelli, Department of Surgery, Casa di Cura Dott. Pederzoli, 37019 Peschiera del Garda (VR), Italy
Author contributions: D’Onofrio M and Ciaravino V contributed to the study idea, study design, study cases, manuscript preparation, and references; D’Onofrio M contributed to manuscript review and manuscript approval; De Robertis R, Barbi E, Salvia R, Girelli R, and Paiella S contributed to study cases; Gasparini C and Cardobi N contributed to the references; Bassi C contributed to manuscript review.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest for any of the authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mirko D’Onofrio, Professor, Department of Radiology, G.B. Rossi Hospital, University of Verona, Piazzale L.A. Scuro 10, 37134 Verona, Italy. mirko.donofrio@univr.it
Telephone: +39-45-8124301 Fax: +39-45-8027490
Received: June 24, 2016
Peer-review started: June 27, 2016
First decision: September 5, 2016
Revised: September 13, 2016
Accepted: October 19, 2016
Article in press: October 19, 2016
Published online: November 28, 2016
Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly aggressive tumor with an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. Prognosis and treatment depend on whether the tumor is resectable or not, which mostly depends on how quickly the diagnosis is made. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be both used in cases of non-resectable pancreatic cancer. In cases of pancreatic neoplasm that is locally advanced, non-resectable, but non-metastatic, it is possible to apply percutaneous treatments that are able to induce tumor cytoreduction. The aim of this article will be to describe the multiple currently available treatment techniques (radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, cryoablation, and irreversible electroporation), their results, and their possible complications, with the aid of a literature review.

Keywords: Irreversible electroporation, Pancreatic cancer, Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Percutaneous treatment, Ablation treatment, Microwave ablation, Cryoablation, Radiofrequency ablation

Core tip: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly aggressive tumor with a prognosis and treatment that depend on whether the tumor is resectable or not, which mostly depends on how quickly the diagnosis is made. In cases of non-metastatic pancreatic neoplasm that is locally advanced, it is possible to apply percutaneous treatments that are able to induce tumor cytoreduction. This article aims to expose the technical procedures, results, and complications of the multiple treatment techniques that are currently available.