Echoendoscopic ablative therapy for solid pancreatic tumors

Initially, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) was developed to inspect the pancreas and other organs adjacent to the gastrointestinal tract. After introduction of curvilinear-array echoendoscopes, EUS has been used for a variety of interventions in gastroenterology, including fine needle aspiration, pancreatobiliary drainage and tumor ablation. EUS-guided ablation of pancreatic cystic tumors with ethanol and with or without cytotoxic agents has been studied, showing its potential to become an alternative to surgery. However, only few attempts at using ethanol ablation to treat solid pancreatic tumors have been reported. Recently, EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation was introduced and has been cautiously applied for pancreatic cancer. This article focuses on the clinical application of EUS for the ablation of solid pancreatic tumors.