Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025
A Syngeneic Pancreatic Cancer Mouse Model to Study the Effects of Irreversible Electroporation
Published on: June 8, 2018
Early Single-Center Experience With Irreversible Electroporation for Stage 2, 3, and 4 Pancreatic Adenocarcinomas
Chris Wall1, Shahid Ahmed2, Rasel Kabir3
1From the Department of Medical Imaging, Saskatoon Health Region.
Objectives:
Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an ablation technology that uses electrical energy delivered between electrodes. If the electrodes are placed atraumatically, there is little to no risk of collateral injury, making IRE appealing for the treatment of pancreatic tumors.
Methods:
We report on 20 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) who underwent 21 IRE in our center. There were 6 IRE for stage 2 PAC, 11 for stage 3 PAC, 1 for stage 4 PAC, and 2 patients treated with IRE for recurrence after pancreaticoduodenectomy. One patient had local progression 18 months after IRE and received a second IRE treatment. Using propensity score matching (age, sex, stage, tumor size, and chemotherapy), cases were matched 2 to 1 with patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.
Results:
A total of 7 cases experienced 8 complications; 4 complications were mild, and 4 were severe. Significant survival benefit was seen for patients with stage 3 PAC (27.5 vs 14.6 months for the matched group, P = 0.003); for stage 2, median survival was 15 months, and the single stage 4 patient survived 9 months after IRE treatment.
Conclusions:
Pancreatic cancers were safely and effectively treated with image-guided IRE in our medium-sized center.
