Irreversible Electroporation in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a new nonthermal ablation modality that can be used to treat primary and metastatic lesions in the liver. This article describes the way IRE works, reviews safety and efficacy data, and presents strategies and recommendations for its use in everyday practice. In a series of liver lesions of various histologies, initial success was 100%; local recurrence rates were greater in larger lesions. In another series of hepatocellular carcinoma only, there was a 79% complete response rate overall and 93% in lesions less than 3 cm. Safety is comparable with those of other ablation modalities. IRE has advantages over other ablation modalities with comparable success rates.