Interventional Radiology in the Treatment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Present and Future Perspectives

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 835
• Main Authors: Punzi, Ernesto, Carrubba, Claudio, Contegiacomo, Andrea, Posa, Alessandro, Barbieri, Pierluigi, De Leoni, Davide, Mazza, Giulia, Tanzilli, Alessandro, Cina, Alessandro, Natale, Luigi, Sala, Evis, Iezzi, Roberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Ablation; Ablation (Surgery); Adenocarcinoma; Biopsy; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cysts; Disease; Drug therapy; Fistula; Health services; Heat; Immunotherapy; irreversible electroporation; liver metastases chemoembolization; Metastases; Metastasis; Methods; Mortality; Oncology, Experimental; Pancreas; pancreatic adenocarcinoma; Pancreatic cancer; Radiology; Radiology, Interventional; Radiology, Medical; Review; Surgery; Survival; thermal ablation; Tomography; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging; Italy; pancreatic adenocarcinoma; liver metastases chemoembolization; thermal ablation; irreversible electroporation; immunotherapy
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life13030835

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease; patients' long-term survival is strictly linked to the surgical resection of the tumor but only a minority of patients (2-3%) have a resectable disease at diagnosis. In patients with surgically unresectable disease, interventional radiology is taking on an increasing role in treatment with the application of loco-regional percutaneous therapies. The primary purposes of this narrative review are to analyze the safety and efficacy of ablative techniques in the management of borderline resectable and locally advanced diseases and to underline the role of the interventional radiologist in the management of patients with distant metastases. The secondary purpose is to focus on the synergy between immunotherapy and ablative therapies.