Ultrasound-assisted Treatment of Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer

Summary

The investigators primary aim is to increase chemotherapeutic drug uptake in inoperable tumours The specific sub-objectives of the studies are: * To quantify tumour sizes and relate it to the patient survival over time, dependent of treatment method. * To evaluate and compare the toxic effects and safety of gemcitabine in combination with US contrast agent under sonication with gemcitabine alone. * Develop and validate new ultrasound perfusion algorithms based on burst- replenishment for diagnosis and monitoring of therapy. * To quantify gemcitabine and its main metabolites in plasma and in circulating mononuclear cells before, during and after pancreatic sonication, and to quantify the concentration of intracellular endogenous nucleotides in circulating mononuclear cells at the same time points. * To assess plasma and tissue concentrations of gemcitabine, its main metabolites and endogenous nucleotides in those patients where surgical resection can be performed on standard clinical indications.

Timeline

Start

2012-02

Primary completion

2015-01

Completion

2015-01

Publications

• Dimcevski G, Kotopoulis S, Bjanes T, Hoem D, Schjott J, Gjertsen BT, Biermann M, Molven A, Sorbye H, McCormack E, Postema M, Gilja OH. A human clinical trial using ultrasound and microbubbles to enhance gemcitabine treatment of inoperable pancreatic cancer. J Control Release. 2016 Dec 10;243:172-181. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2016.10.007. Epub 2016 Oct 12.

Drugs

Indications