03/15/2022

New treatment for pancreatic cancer

A new treatment that offers hope for our patients at the Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre at Epworth is now available.

Caroline Le, the centre’s Research Program Manager says a new brachytherapy device, called OncoSil, delivers a pre-determined dose of radiation directly into the tumour over 81 days.

It is delivered into a pancreatic tumour via injection under guidance of ultrasound.

OncoSil presents a significant advancement in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

“Pancreatic cancer is classified according to the extent of the disease,” Caroline explained.

“About 20% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have tumours that are confined to the pancreas and are candidates for surgery . The remaining 80% of patients are considered inoperable because the cancer has spread outside of the pancreas (metastatic), or is too large or complex to remove safely (locally advanced).

“It is these patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer that OncoSil can make the biggest difference.”

Generally treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, a previous study found that adding OncoSil to standard chemotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer achieved local disease control in 90.5% of patients at 16 weeks and 71.4% at 24 weeks. Additionally, 23.8% of the patients treated with OncoSil then were able to have surgery after this treatment.

When the Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre at Epworth was launched last year, the aim set was to revolutionise the treatment and care of patients with pancreatic cancer, with a commitment to research and clinical care that would result in better outcomes for patients.

Referrals for this new treatment are now being accepted for patients who have locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer. The cost of using the device and the post procedural SPECT scan will be subsidised by the Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre and Epworth Medical Foundation for some of our patients.