New chemo delivery method targets pancreatic cancer before surgery
NCT ID NCT05634720
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests giving a single dose of chemotherapy directly into the liver artery before standard surgery and systemic chemo for localized pancreatic cancer. The goal is to see if this approach is safe and feasible in 20 patients. Researchers hope it may help prevent the cancer from spreading to the liver.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- hepatic artery chemotherapy (FUDR/oxaliplatin)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could point toward a new way to deliver chemotherapy directly to the liver before surgery, potentially reducing cancer spread in pancreatic cancer patients.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small, early-stage safety study with only 20 participants. It is not designed to prove the treatment works, and there may be side effects from the chemotherapy or the procedure itself.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 4
Runs after approval, following long-term safety and how well the treatment works in everyday use.
- Participants
-
About 20 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
Jan 2024
- Expected to finish
-
Dec 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: Patients are eligible to be included in the study only if they meet all of the following criteria: 1. Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of PDAC, which is clinically staged as either resectable or borderline resectable after multidisciplinary evaluation. 2. Age \>= 18 yo 3. ECOG Performance Status 0-1 4. Eligibility for FOLFIRINOX as determined by medical oncology. 5. Women of child-bearing potential (i.e., women who are pre-menopausal or not surgically sterile) must use accepted contraceptive methods (abstinence, intrauterine device \[IUD\], oral contraceptive or double barrier device) during the study and must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 1 week of neoadjuvant HA chemotherapy as well as during adjuvant chemotherapy as per SOC practices. 6. Fertile men must practice effective contraceptive methods during the study, unless documentation of infertility exists. 7. Expected survival \>3 months. 8. Adequate laboratory parameters and organ function, namely: 1. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1.5 x 109/L 2. Platelets ≥ 100 x 109/L 3. Hemoglobin (Hgb) ≥ 8 g/dL 4. Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) 5. ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 x ULN 6. Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 x ULN or creatinine clearance (estimated) ≥ 50 cc/min by Cockroft-Gault Formula (Appendix C) 9. Provide written, informed consent to participate in the study and follow the study procedures. Exclusion Criteria: Patients will be excluded from the study if they meet any of the following criteria: 1. Hepatic arterial anatomy not amenable to percutaneous access, and/or delivery of HA chemotherapy, as determined by the principal investigator and treating interventional radiologist. These may include any of the following: celiac or superior mesenteric artery occlusion; accessory or replaced hepatic arteries that cannot be ligated, divided, or embolized per the treating surgeon/interventional radiologist and would thus require more than two hepatic artery branch cannulations to treat the entire liver; any other variant anatomy deemed to have a risk of non-target GI infusion or incomplete hepatic perfusion. 2. CA 19-9 \>500 within 4 weeks of planned surgical resection. 3. Pregnancy or breastfeeding. 4. Not willing to use an effective method of birth control. 5. History of other carcinomas diagnosed within the last two years, except cured non-melanoma skin cancer, curatively treated in-situ cervical cancer, curatively treated localized thyroid cancer, or localized prostate cancer treated curatively with no evidence of biochemical or imaging recurrence. 6. Liver cirrhosis. 7. Prior liver surgery including partial hepatectomy or transplantation. 8. Active hepatitis or unresolved biliary obstruction at the time of diagnostic laparoscopy, as evidenced by: 1. Total bilirubin \> 1.5 x ULN 2. ALT and AST \> 2.5 x ULN 9. Recent or current active infectious disease requiring systemic antivirals, antibiotics or antifungals, or treatment within 2 weeks prior to the start of study drug, including acute or chronic active hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection, or uncontrolled HIV/AIDS. Patients with well controlled HIV are permitted. Patients receiving prophylactic antibiotics (e.g., for prevention of urinary tract infection or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are eligible. 10. Major surgical procedure, open biopsy, or significant traumatic injury within 28 days prior to the start of study or anticipation of need for major surgical procedure during the course of the study other than surgical resection of the pancreatic tumor. 11. Serious, non-healing wound, ulcer, or bone fracture. 12. History of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. 13. Known hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (e.g., positive hepatitis B surface antigen \[HBsAg\]) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (e.g., positive HCV ribonucleic acid \[RNA\]). 14. Chronic treatment with systemic corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or immunosuppressive medications * Intermittent steroids (\< 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) may be used on an as needed basis (e.g. for treatment of nausea, anorexia, and fatigue) * Physiologic replacement doses of steroids due to adrenal insufficiency are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease. * Topical, inhaled, or intra-articular corticosteroids are allowed. 15. Participation in other interventional research protocols during the screening to 30 day follow up time-point. 16. Concurrent severe and/or uncontrolled medical conditions, which may compromise participation in the study, including impaired heart function or clinically significant heart disease
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Duke University Health System
Durham, North Carolina, 27710, United States
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