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Endoscopic ultrasound radiofrequency ablation demonstrates high success for pancreatic tumors
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SAN ANTONIO — Endoscopic ultrasound radiofrequency ablation had high technical and clinical success in the treatment of patients with pancreatic tumors, according to study results presented at the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting.
Amaninder Dhaliwal, MBBS, MD, of University of Nebraska Medical Center, said EUS-RFA is a newer technique that offers a less invasive method of treating pancreatic tumors. The technique is more selective and potentially safer for patients.
“We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of EUS-RFA in the treatment of locally advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and pancreatic tumors,” Dhaliwal said in his presentation.
Investigators searched the literature for studies that reported the use of EUS-RFA for pancreatic lesions and identified 13 studies comprising 127 patients. The primary outcome was to evaluate technical and clinical success of the procedure. Technical success was defined as successful placement of the needle in the lesion, while clinical success was based on decrease in lesion size, symptom improvement and radiological evidence of necrosis status after the procedure.
Dhaliwal and colleagues found that the pooled technical success rate out of all the procedures was 98% (95% CI, 90.69–100), and the pooled clinical success rate was 89.46% (95% CI, 69.17–100).
In their safety assessment, researchers found that the most pooled overall adverse event rate was 13.4% (95% CI, 4.11–25.55). In subgroup analysis, they found that abdominal pain was the most commonly reported adverse event (8.81%; 95% CI, 2.72–16.88), while bleeding and post-procedure pancreatitis were reported in one patient each. They did not find any reported incidents of perforation or procedure-related infections.
Dhaliwal said the procedure demonstrated high technical and clinical success in the treatment of pancreatic tumors.
“It is a safer procedure with minimal overall adverse events,” he said. “Further multicenter trials are needed to validate these findings, and we are excited and look forward to that data coming in the future.” – by Alex Young
Reference:
Dhaliwal A, et al. Abstract 60. Presented at: American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting; Oct. 25-30, 2019; San Antonio.
Disclosures: Dhaliwal reports no relevant financial disclosures.