Irreversible Electroporation to Bring Initially Unresectable Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma to Surgery: the IRECAP Phase II Study

The aim of the IRECAP study was to evaluate the rate of locally advanced pancreas cancer patients (LAPC) who could undergo R0 or R1 surgery after irreversible electroporation (IRE). IRECAP study is a phase II, single-center, open-label, prospective, non-randomized trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03105921). Patients with LAPC were first treated by 3-month neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in order to avoid inclusion of either patients with LAPC having become resectable after chemotherapy or patients with rapid disease progression. In cases of stable disease, IRE was performed percutaneously under CT guidance. Surgery was planned between 28 and 90 days after IRE. Tumor specimens were studied to evaluate the resection margins (R0/R1/R2). Six men and 11 women were included (median age 61 years, range 37–77 years). No IRE-related death was observed. Ten patients (58