Archives: Clinical Trials

Patient therapy is tailored according to the molecular profile of the patient's tumor.

The operation to remove certain pancreatic cancers (Whipple procedure), even in 2017, remains one of the most complicated surgeries done in the abdomen. It carries a 50% chance of a complication, even in the world's largest pancreatic surgery centres.

Saskatchewan is one of only two centres in Canada to have a promising new technology called Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) (NanoKnife®) available to our patients for the ablation (destruction) of cancers. IRE is different from other ablation treatments, including heat and even radiation, in that with IRE no heat is generated and there is minimal, if any, damage to nearby blood vessels, bowel, and ducts. Thus far, IRE has only been used as a &#x0022last resort&#x0022 in cases where the pancreatic cancer cannot be removed with surgery, yet many patients whose tumor could likely be removed with a 'Whipple' have expressed a preference to undergo IRE instead of the Whipple procedure.

Our main research questions are: In comparison to Whipple procedure, is IRE an effective treatment of pancreatic cancer, and are complications reduced? Is IRE cost-effective? Based on the cases we have done and published series of IRE for stage III pancreatic cancer, we believe that IRE will be effective and safe in treating lesser stage (I and II) tumors in our proposed study.

This will be a pilot study of 12-15 patients, and all recruited patients will receive the IRE treatment and then be followed for up to 5 years for quality of life, recurrence, survival, and cost.

The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the effects of a walking program on fatigue, physical functioning and QOL in patients with pancreatic and periampullary cancers who have had surgery or are undergoing adjuvant therapy with chemotherapy (CT) and/or radiation therapy (RT). This pilot study will utilize the walking program developed by Mock et al. (2001), in their investigation of the improvement of fatigue and QOL in breast care patients following surgery who were receiving CT, RT or biotherapy. No studies published to date have utilized a progressive walking program in post-operative pancreas and ampullary cancers to determine if it reduces adverse effects, such as fatigue or improves functionality and QOL scores.

The purpose of this study is to see if taking ketorolac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), is reasonable, safe and can stabilize or increase weight along with quality of life in pancreatic cancer patients.

Background: postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) remains the most important morbidity after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). There is no consensual technique for pancreatic reconstruction and many surgeons use a transanastomotic drain. Currently, the stents used are not degradable and they can cause obstruction, stricture and pancreatitis. The use of biodegradable stents that disappear a few months after the intervention could have a role in the prevention of pancreaticojejunostomy complications.

Material and method: A single-center prospective randomized study was planned with patients undergoing PD. A duct-to-mucosa end-to-side anastomosis is performed for the pancreaticojejunal anastomosis and the stent is placed from the pancreatic duct to the jejunum.

The primary outcome of the study is the evaluation of the presence of POPF (drainage fluid amylase value of > 5000 U/L on the first day).

The aim of the study is to evaluate the most appropriate management of sporadic asymptomatic non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NF-PNEN) ≤ 2 cm. P NF-PNEN management will be decided at the hospital and all therapeutics decision will be decided/coordinated by the treating physician.

Patients will be either submitted to surgical resection or to active surveillance.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, leucovorin and 5-fluoruracil, work in different ways separately and in combination to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. The use of metronomic dosing of chemotherapy minimizes side effects and increases efficacy by anti-angiogenic effects. The pilot study demonstrated promising responses in all patients. It is not yet known how effective this drug and dosing combination is in treating advanced pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE: This non-randomized phase II trial is studying giving weekly doses of paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil together as second or third-line therapy in treating patient with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas following demonstrated progression after first-line gemcitabine.

The aim of this observational multicenter retrospective cohort study is to evaluate the differences in risk factors, prognosis, clinicopathological and metabolic characteristics between early-onset pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (EO-PanNETs) and late-onset pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (LO-PanNETs).

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Are there distinct clinical, pathological, and metabolic profiles in EO-PanNETs compared with LO-PanNETs? Do EO-PanNETs have different prognostic outcomes compared with LO-PanNETs? Researchers will compare EO-PanNET patients with LO-PanNET patients and with matched nonmalignant controls to assess differences in tumor characteristics and associated metabolic conditions.

Participants will:

Provide retrospective clinical, pathological, and metabolic data from hospital records.

Have survival and recurrence outcomes assessed through follow-up data review.

Pancreatic cancer is a very poor prognosis and has a high mortality rate. The clinical results have improved somewhat with the combination therapy of chemotherapy as the first-line treatment. However, effective secondary chemotherapy after these first-line treatment failures is limited. Recently, FOLFIRINOX has been used in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who have good performance in Korea. Gemcitabine + nab-paclitaxel (GnP) as a second-line treatment after FOLFIRINOX may be expected to be considerable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of GnP as a second-line treatment after failed FOLFIRINOX treatment for locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

This study aims to evaluate whether the incidence of delayed gastric emptying (DGE) can be reduced by proximal Roux-en-y gastrojejunal anastomosis in comparison with the standard gastrojejunal anastomosis in pylorus-resecting pancreaticoduodenectomy (PrPD).