Irreversible electroporation of hepatocellular carcinoma: patient selection and perspectives Asha Zimmerman,1 David Grand,2 Kevin P Charpentier 1 1Department of Surgery, 2Department of Radiology, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Abstract: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a novel form of tissue ablation that uses high-current electrical pulses to induce pore formation of the cell lipid bilayer, leading to cell death. The safety of IRE for ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been established. Outcome data for ablation of HCC by IRE are limited, but early results are encouraging and suggest equivalency to the outcomes obtained for thermal ablation for appropriately selected, small (