High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation for Patients With Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: A Propensity Score‐Matching Analysis

Objectives This retrospective study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in combination with chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone in treating patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). Methods The data of unresectable LAPC patients who received chemotherapy with or without HIFU ablation were retrieved retrospectively. The overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), cancer antigen 19‐9 response rate, and safety were compared between these two groups before and after propensity score matching (PSM). Results Overall, 254 patients with LAPC were included, of whom 92 underwent HIFU ablation. After PSM to control for potential biases, HIFU was associated with improved OS (12.8 versus 12.2 months, log‐rank P = .046), as compared to patients without HIFU ablation. Patients with numeric rating scale (NRS) less than 4, and receiving HIFU ablation were significantly associated with improved OS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.365 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.148–0.655], P = .002; aHR = 0.490 [95% CI = 0.250–0.961], P = .038; respectively) by multivariate analyses with the adjustment of age, NRS, and tumor size. ORR was also observed to be higher in HIFU group of 30.0% than in the chemotherapy group of 13.3% ( P = .039). No severe adverse events of special interest or HIFU‐caused deaths were observed. Conclusions Patients with unresectable LAPC who received gemcitabine‐based chemotherapy might benefit from additional HIFU ablation.