Electroporación irreversible: presente y futuro en el tratamiento del carcinoma hepatocelular

Abstract

Currently, among the possible treatments for hepatocel-lular carcinoma there is group of minimally invasive abla-tion techniques with wide clinical acceptance due to their greater efficacy and safety in comparison to traditional therapies, low cost, and no need of being admitted to hospi-tal (outpatient treatment program). Irreversible electroporation is a non-thermal abla tion technique in which electrical fields are used to create nan-opores in the cell membrane that induce tumor cell death.Irreversible electroporation has shown promising results in numerous clinical trials; however, its control on long-term tumor growth and recurrence is inferior in comparison to that of radiofrequency. Combining irreversible electropora-tion with immunological agents may increase its efficacy in the treatment of focal lesions and metastases. In this work, we present an update on IRE including procedure, mecha-nism of action, application as a treatment for HCC, and the improvements that have been made in the past few years.