Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 28, 2017; 23(32): 6003-6006
Published online Aug 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i32.6003
Postoperative inflammation as a possible cause of portal vein thrombosis after irreversible electroporation for locally advanced pancreatic cancer
Jun-Jun Su, Ming Su, Kai Xu, Peng-Fei Wang, Li Yan, Shi-Chun Lu, Wan-Qing Gu, Yong-Liang Chen
Jun-Jun Su, Ming Su, Kai Xu, Peng-Fei Wang, Li Yan, Shi-Chun Lu, Wan-Qing Gu, Yong-Liang Chen, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Jun-Jun Su, Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Taiyuan 030012, Shanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Su JJ collected the case data, prepared the photos, and wrote the manuscript; all authors proofread the pathologic materials; Su M, Xu K, Wang PF, and Yan L proofread and revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final version to be published.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, China.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to this report.
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: Dr. Yong-Liang Chen, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing 100853, China. chenyongl301@163.com
Telephone: +86-13601021099
Received: March 27, 2017
Peer-review started: March 28, 2017
First decision: April 10, 2017
Revised: July 2, 2017
Accepted: July 22, 2017
Article in press: July 24, 2017
Published online: August 28, 2017
Processing time: 153 Days and 10.9 Hours
Abstract

Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a rare but serious postoperative complication associated with irreversible electroporation (IRE). We report a case of postoperative PVT in a 54-year-old woman who underwent IRE for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Drain removal and discharge of the patient from the hospital were scheduled on postoperative day (POD) 7; however, a magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed the presence of PVT. We suspected postoperative inflammation in the pancreas as the main cause of PVT. However, the patient did not undergo any medical treatment because she did not have any clinical symptoms, and she was discharged on POD 8.

Keywords: Irreversible electroporation; Portal vein thrombosis; Locally advanced pancreatic cancer; Safety

Core tip: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a medical technique that utilizes high voltage pulses to create permanent nanopores in the cell membrane, which in turn induces apoptosis of the targeted cells. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a rare but serious postoperative complication associated with IRE. This review focuses on the mechanism of PVT after IRE for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.