Echoendoscopic ablative therapy for pancreatic solid 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 tumor with ethanol and with or without cytotoxic agents has been studied in many clinical trials and showed potential to become an alternative to surgery. However, only a few attempts using ethanol ablation to treat pancreatic solid tumors have been reported. Recently, EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation was introduced and is cautiously applied for the pancreatic cancer. This article focuses on the clinical application of EUS for the ablation of pancreatic solid tumors. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.