MRI-guided chemotherapy for borderline-resectable pancreatic cancer
Official title: DCE-MRI guided Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer
Funded at Ohio State University · NIH-11385517 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses special MRI scans to help pick the best pre-surgery chemotherapy for people whose pancreatic tumor is touching nearby vessels but might be removable after treatment.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ohio State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbus, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | April 1, 2024 |
| Project end | March 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $658,176 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA290435-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11385517 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with borderline-resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma who are planned for neoadjuvant chemotherapy and can safely undergo contrast-enhanced MRI are the ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with widely metastatic or clearly unresectable pancreatic cancer, those who cannot receive MRI or MRI contrast, or those not receiving neoadjuvant therapy are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you have borderline-resectable pancreatic cancer, researchers will use dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE‑MRI) before and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy to measure changes in tumor blood flow that can signal response. The team developed a small portable perfusion phantom (P4) to make those MRI measurements more reliable across scans. You would receive one of the commonly used chemotherapy regimens and have serial DCE‑MRI scans to watch for early perfusion changes before the tumor shrinks visibly. The scans and phantom aim to tell clinicians sooner whether a treatment is working so surgical plans can be made earlier.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could let doctors identify responding patients earlier so more people can proceed to potentially curative surgery.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work shows perfusion MRI can reveal early tumor response in some cancers but has been limited by measurement variability, and using a portable phantom for standardization is a newer approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Ohio State University
Columbus, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kim, Harrison — Ohio State University
- Study coordinator: Kim, Harrison
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.