Advantages of pancreatic cancer treatment with radiofrequency knife

  What conditions of pancreatic cancer can be treated with radiofrequency knife?  Is there any contraindication to radiofrequency knife treatment for pancreatic cancer?  What are the advantages of radiofrequency knife pancreatic cancer treatment?  Pancreatic cancer is a radiation-insensitive tumor, and it is difficult to achieve the desired effect with conventional radiotherapy due to the disadvantage of poor tolerance of radiation to the surrounding organs. As an emerging stereotactic radiotherapy, radio wave knife treatment has unparalleled advantages in terms of precision of treatment. Compared with other radiotherapy modalities, it can effectively increase the tumor dose and reduce the radiation of surrounding normal tissues, thus significantly improving the local control rate of tumor.  1. Indications for radiofrequency knife treatment are limited stage pancreatic cancer that cannot be surgically resected; pancreatic cancer that is not suitable for surgery or refuses surgery for other reasons; KPS score ≥ 60 or above, expected to survive for more than 3 months; tolerate fixed position for 30-60 minutes under normal conditions or after treatment; jaundiced patients with normal liver and kidney function and electrolytes after yellowing reduction treatment, WBC>3.0×109/L, PLT>80×109/L, Hb>80g/L; if there is liver function damage, it should be effective in liver preservation treatment and maintain alanine transaminase (ALT) and glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (AST) below 100U/L; for those who have few metastases in other distant organs outside the pancreas (such as liver) and require local treatment to effectively relieve symptoms.  2. Contraindications to radiofrequency knife therapy include extensive metastases, large amount of peritoneal fluid, severely impaired liver function, ALT and AST > 300 U/L for more than 3 weeks or more than 3000 U/L, and those who cannot tolerate radiotherapy due to poor general condition.  For a certain total dose of radiation therapy, the prolongation of the total treatment time is not conducive to the improvement of the biological effect dose, and the single high-dose short-course radiotherapy mode of the radio-wave knife is a successful example for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The radio-wave knife has significant advantages and is an effective tool for the treatment of locally progressive tumors. Meanwhile, it is difficult to improve the efficacy of traditional radiation therapy and 3D conformal radiotherapy in the treatment of pancreatic cancer mainly because it cannot be positioned and tracked in real time during the treatment process, and the Synchrony technology of the radio wave knife is one of the most mature real-time tracking technologies in clinical application. Therefore it can reduce the uncertainty of tumor location through the application of respiratory synchrony tracking system, thus minimizing the target volume, allowing the dose to be effectively improved, reducing the toxic side effects of normal tissues, and also significantly improving the efficiency. The results of the study show that the recent efficacy of radiofrequency knife treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer is very obvious, which can effectively control the tumor, relieve or even eliminate the clinical symptoms of patients, prolong the survival period while significantly shortening the treatment course, with mild acute reactions and well tolerated by patients.  Changhai Hospital has accumulated rich experience in the field of radiofrequency knife treatment for pancreatic cancer, which has effectively relieved patients’ pain, improved their quality of life and prolonged their lives. He has organized domestic radio wave knife treatment plan competition and discussion on pancreatic cancer cases in the field of radio wave knife.