Long-term survival after percutaneous irreversible electroporation of inoperable colorectal liver metastases

Andreas Schicho,1 Christoph Niessen,1 Michael Haimerl,1 Isabel Wiesinger,1 Christian Stroszczynski,1 Lukas P Beyer,1 Philipp Wiggermann2 1Department of Radiology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; 2Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany Background: For colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) that are not amenable to surgery or thermal ablation, irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a novel local treatment modality and additional option. Methods: This study is a retrospective long-term follow-up of patients with CRLM who underwent IRE as salvage treatment. Results: Of the 24 included patients, 18 (75.0%) were male, and the median age was 57 (range: 28–75) years. The mean time elapsed from diagnosis to IRE was 37.9±37.3 months. Mean overall survival was 26.5 months after IRE (range: 2.5–69.2 months) and 58.1 months after diagnosis (range: 14.8–180.1 months). One-, three-, and five-year survival rates after initial diagnosis were 100.0%, 79.2%, and 41.2%; after IRE, the respective survival rates were 79.1%, 25.0%, and 8.3%. There were no statistically significant differences detected in survival after IRE with respect to gender, age, T- or N-stage at the time of diagnosis, size of metastases subject to IRE, number of hepatic lesions, or time elapsed between IRE and diagnosis. Conclusion: For nonresectable CRLM, long-term survival data emphasize the value of IRE as a new minimally invasive local therapeutic approach in multimodal palliative treatment, which is currently limited to systemic or regional therapies in this setting. Keywords: liver metastases, survival, colorectal cancer, irreversible electroporation, long-term, salvage treatment, CRLM