We wanted to evaluate the levels of effect and safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation (HIFU) for treating patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Nineteen sessions of HIFU, with the patients under general anesthesia, were performed in 18 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The change of the gray-scale of the target lesion was analyzed during HIFU, and MRI was performed before and after HIFU. We assessed the extent of coagulative necrosis, the change of pain and the complications after HIFU. The change of tumor size and the survival of patients were also evaluated.

The average size of tumor was 4 cm in diameter. Eighty nine percent of the target tumors showed increased echogenicity. On MRI, necrosis of the entire target tumor occurred in 79% of the patients. After treatment, effective pain relief was noted in 89% of the patients. There were no major complications. No size increase of the treated tumor was noted during 24 weeks of follow-up for 10 patients. Six patients among 12 patients who were available for follow-up are still alive and they are receiving chemotherapy. Six patients expired due to other disease or progression of metastasis.

HIFU is a safe method without any major complications, and it is effective for inducing tumor necrosis and achieving pain control for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.