Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Feb 15, 2015; 7(2): 6-11
Published online Feb 15, 2015. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i2.6
Table 2 Case series on radiofrequency ablation of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma-outcomes and comments
Ref.SurvivalMorbidity and mortalityComments
Matsui et al[24]3 mo (median)Morbidity (10%)-septic shock and gastrointestinal bleeding Mortality (5%)-patient with septic shockAll patients had a laparotomy
Date et al[25]3 mo (overall)Patient developed polyuria. No major complicationSingle patient
Hadjicostas et al[26]7 mo (median)No major complications occurredSandostatin was administered prophylactically. Palliative bypass procedures were performed. One patient had significant pain relief
Varshney et al[27]7 mo (mean)Self-limiting complications occurred in two patientsOne patient had percutaneous CT guided RFA. All patients had endobiliary stenting All patients received 7 d of antibiotics
Later this group has updated their results in 10 patients with 10% morbidity and no mortality. Eight patients received post RFA chemotherapy. One patient developed a 2 cm pseudocyst. Overall survival range was 9-36 mo[32]
Wu et al[28]Not reportedPancreatic fistula 18.8% (3/16). Overall morbidity 43%. Mortality 25% Massive and mortal gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in 3 patientsInitially performed only for body and tail lesions. Later expanded for head of pancreas lesions, but had 50% mortality in this group 50% patients had relief of back pain 5 patients had liver metastases 5 mm distance to portal vein may not be safe
Spiliotis et al[20]33 mo (mean)Overall morbidity 25% and nil mortalityMean survival without RFA was 13 mo RFA in parallel to palliative therapy provided survival benefit for patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer
Casadei et al[29]4 mo (mean)3 patients developed ascites 1 patient developed biliary fistulaProspective study. Included 3 patients Complete necrosis achieved in all patients All patients had a laparotomy and double bypass. Study was stopped at interim analysis
Girelli et al[11]Not reportedAbdominal complications occurred in 24%. 30 d mortality 2%. Three patients with surgery related complicated required reoperationProspective study RFA was the only treatment in 19 patients All patients received antibiotics, octreotide and gabexate mesilate. Reduction of RFA temperature from 105 °C to 900 °C resulted in significant reduction in complications
Later this group has updated their experience of 107 patients (Cantore et al[21]). They performed a group wise comparison between upfront RFA vs RFA following primary therapy and concluded that RFA following primary treatment improves survival (14.7 mo vs 25.6 mo)
Zou1 et al[30]17.6 mo (mean)Three patients experienced complications, but no mortalitySomatostatin analogues were used post-operatively The overall 12 mo survival was 65.6%
Ikuta et al[31]Alive at 18 moNo complicationsLaparotomy with bypass procedure followed by chemoradiotherapy to induce pancreatic fibrosis. This was followed by second laparotomy and RFA