Efficacy of minimally invasive therapies on unresectable pancreatic cancer

Abstract

For patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer, current chemotherapies have negligible survival benefits. Thus, developing effective minimally invasive therapies is currently underway. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization plus radiofrequency ablation and/or 125I radioactive seed implantation on unresectable pancreatic cancer. We analyzed the outcome of 71 patients with unresectable pancreatic carcinoma who underwent chemoembolization plus radiofrequency ablation and/or radioactive seed implantation. Of the 71 patients, the median survival was 11 months, and the 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival rates were 32.4%, 9.9%, and 6.6% respectively. Patients who had no metastasis, who had oligonodular liver metastases (≤3 lesions), and who had multinodular liver metastases (>3 lesions) had median survival of 12, 18, and 8 months, respectively, and 1-year overall survival rates of 50.0%, 68.8%, and 5.7%, respectively. Although the survival of patients without liver metastases was worse than that of patients with oligonodular liver metastasis, the result was not significant (P = 0.239). In contrast, the metastasis-negative patients had significantly better survival than did patients with multinodular liver metastases (P < 0.001). Patients with oligonodular liver lesions had a significanthg longer median survival than did patients with multinodular lesions (P < 0.001). In conclusion, combined minimally invasive therapies had good efficacy on unresectable pancreatic cancer and resulted in a good control of liver metastases. In addition, the number of liver metastases was a significant factor in predicting prognosis and response to treatment.

Percutaneous intratumoral injection of gemcitabine plus cisplatin mixed with fibrin glue for advanced pancreatic carcinoma

“…For patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer, current chemotherapies have negligible survival benefits as pancreatic carcinomas have concentration- and time-dependent sensitivity to locoregional chemotherapy. [ 9 , 10 ] Therefore, the development of effective and minimally invasive strategies that selectively deliver antitumor drugs to the tumor site, release high concentrations of antitumor drugs for extended periods of time, and minimize distribution of antitumor drugs throughout the body remains an unmet need. [ 9 ]…”

Surgical and local therapeutic concepts of oligometastatic pancreatic cancer in the era of effective chemotherapy

“…In another study from Guangzhou, China, 71 patients with unresectable PC primary tumor with (n = 51) or without (n = 20) LM underwent primarily TACE (mean 3 sessions, range 2-6; [56]). In the case of residual lesions in the primary tumor site, the liver, or metastatic lymph nodes, this was followed by RFA (24 patients) or radioactive seed implantation (n = 24) or both (n = 31).…”

Therapeutic value of 3-D printing template-assisted ¹²⁵I-seed&nbsp;implantation in the treatment of malignant liver tumors

“…However, this treatment is always obscured by the costa and lung tissue, and displacement of the liver caused by breathing also makes treatment difficult. The use of 3-D printing template-assisted radioactive seed implantation could solve these problems and shorten operation time by optimizing radiation-dose distribution 2,3…”