The esophagus survives non-thermal irreversible electroporation ablation and gradually rehabilitates

Background: When using ablation technology to treat esophageal cancer or tumors adjacent to the esophagus, the damage and recovery of the esophagus itself is of particular concern. Non-thermal irreversible electroporation (NTIRE) is a novel minimally invasive ablation method that uses microsecond electric fields to create nanoscale defects on cell membranes and induce cell death, while keeping all other molecules (including the extracellular matrix) intact. In this study, we aimed to study the effect of NTIRE on the esophagus wall and its subsequent repair process.Methods A typical NTIRE electrical protocol was applied to the rabbit esophagus and histological analysis was used to analyze subsequent changes in esophageal tissue after ablation.Results The application of NTIRE resulted in complete cell inactivation, but the experimental animals did not show severe pathological discomfort after in situ ablation. After ablation, the entire layer of the esophageal wall gradually showed signs of recovery: regeneration and creep replacement of epithelial basal cells, regeneration of muscle cells and structural remodeling of the muscle layer, and finally the restoration of clear anatomical structures in each layer.Conclusions The esophagus can survive the direct application of NTIRE, and the whole layer of the entire wall can be gradually regenerated and repaired. NTIRE can be used for in situ ablation of local tumors, including esophageal, intrathoracic and mediastinal tumors, and upper abdominal tumors, while minimizing collateral damage to adjacent tissues because of the unique ability of the NTIRE ablation method to target the cell membrane.