Evidence on the safety of irreversible electroporation for primary liver cancer shows serious but infrequent and well-recognised complications. Evidence on its efficacy is inadequate in quantity and quality. Therefore, this procedure should only be used in the context of research. Find out what only in research means on the NICE interventional procedures guidance page.
Patient selection should be done by a multidisciplinary team.
The procedure should only be done in specialist centres by clinicians with experience and specific training.
Further research could be in the form of case series or registry-based research. It should include: details of patient selection; tumour position and size; long-term outcomes including overall survival, progression-free survival and tumour regression; and patient-reported outcomes including quality of life.