Séminaire Jessica Gannon

Author: Jessica Gannon
Time: 11H00
Language: English
Place: Conference Room at LabTAU

Abstract: 

Ultrasound-Guided Non-Invasive Pancreas Ablation Using Histotripsy: Feasibility Studies in Porcine Models

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease that is typically diagnosed late-stage leading to poor prognosis and overall survival. Even with advances in treatment, the five-year survival rate for patients is only 12.5% with only 20% of patients presenting with resectable tumors. Histotripsy is a non-invasive, non-thermal, and non-ionizing focused ultrasound ablation method that has recently been FDA approved for treating hepatic tumors and is currently being investigated for other malignancies. This study expands upon prior work by our group investigating the feasibility of non-invasive pancreas ablation using ultrasound-guided histotripsy in a healthy chronic porcine model. Additional work by our group includes the development of an immunocompromised porcine model allowing us to surgically inject and grow human Panc-01 tumors orthotopically to target with histotripsy. While results from these studies are promising, they also highlight the challenges of targeting the pancreas through an extracorporeal approach due to overlying gas-filled tissues. Therefore, we are also investigating the development of endoscopic histotripsy devices for minimally invasive tissue ablation which has led to the collaboration between our two labs.