A case of improved quality of life in a patient with inoperable pancreatic cancer after repeated RFA

Nino Toria; Nino Kikodze; Nona Janikashvili; Ia Pantsulaia; Malkhaz Mizandari; Tinatin Chikovani; Nagy Habib

doi:10.1016/j.radcr.2022.07.017

A case of improved quality of life in a patient with inoperable pancreatic cancer after repeated RFA

Radiol Case Rep. 2022 Jul 29;17(10):3607-3610. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2022.07.017. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Authors

Nino Toria¹, Nino Kikodze^{1

2}, Nona Janikashvili¹, Ia Pantsulaia^{1

2}, Malkhaz Mizandari³, Tinatin Chikovani¹, Nagy Habib⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology, Tbilisi State Medical University, 33 Vazha-Pshavela Ave, Tbilisi, 0186, Georgia.
² V. Bakhutashvili Institute of Medical Biotechnology, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
³ Department of Interventional Radiology, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
⁴ Department of Surgery and Cancer, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Abstract

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has widespread popularity due to its immune-modulation effects in many cancers. Optimal settings to apply RFA in pancreatic cancer, in which the advanced stage of the tumor at the diagnosis makes various therapeutic approaches fail, are still demanding. We report the case of a patient with unresectable pancreatic cancer in which 3 repetitive RFA has been applied over a period of 3 months. Results revealed an improvement in the patient's clinical condition associated with the reduced incidence of CD4+CD45RO+ T lymphocytes and declined TGF-β level in serum. The good quality of life and disease-free survival were maintained for the next months. Booster application of RFA procedure might be a promising option to improve the quality of life in pancreatic cancer patients.

Keywords: Cytokines; Immunomodulation; Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation; T lymphocytes; Unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Publication types

Case Reports