Endoscopic ablation therapy for biliopancreatic malignancies

Biliopancreatic malignancies such as cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) has notoriously been diagnosed late. As such most therapy have been palliative in nature. Cholangioscopy allows for an earlier diagnosis to be made. Brachytherapy with the insertion of catheter with iridium-132 seeds, percutaneously or through endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was the earliest ablative techniques used. It has been shown to have a beneficial effect only in prolonging survival. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has also been used for several years. stenting with PDT versus stenting alone for unresectable CCA showed a marked survival benefit with the addition of PDT. However the most exciting endoscopic ablative modality appears to be intraductal radiofrequency ablation using the Habib catheter and device. Several case series have shown the effectiveness of this technique in ablating tumors. This technique is evolving and coupled with early diagnosis of CCA through cholangioscopy will allow for a curative therapy. The crux to the effective treatment of early cancerous lesions in the bile or pancreatic duct is the early diagnosis of such lesions. Effective endoscopic ablative therapy is now available with the advent of radiofrequency ablation probes that can be passed through the duodenoscope via ERCP.