Ablative therapies of pancreatic neoplasms.

Abstract

The interest for pancreatic neoplasm ablation under endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guidance has increased during the last decade because of technology advancement and availability of dedicated devices for thermal ablation. The most commonly used technique is radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Currently, three needle-electrodes and one "through-the-needle" probe are available. Published studies mainly demonstrated the feasibility and safety of the procedure. However, the role of EUS-RFA for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is not yet well defined. Randomized studies are needed to assess any advantage in terms of survival and quality of life when RFA is included in a multimodal treatment strategy compared with chemo(radio)therapy alone. In the setting of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs), published studies are consistent in demonstrating the efficacy of EUS-RFA in relieving symptoms related to hormone secretion by functioning pNETs. Moreover, EUS-RFA could find a role even in selected patients with small non-functioning pNETs when treatment is indicated but surgical resection would like to be avoided. Finally, EUS-RFA can be applied also for the treatment of pancreatic cystic neoplasm. However, patients should be carefully selected taking into account the low incidence of progression of cystic neoplasms towards malignancy and factors related to the patient, such as age, symptoms, comorbidity, and life expectancy.