Defining and evaluating treatment options for limited metastatic spread in pancreatic cancer

The project

Limited metastatic spread, termed oligometastatic, is a distinct diagnosis in several cancers where treatments such as surgery have been shown to improve survival. In pancreatic cancer, oligometastatic disease is not well understood with no unified diagnostic criteria. Because of this, research in this area has been inconsistent and therefore difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from.

Dr Samir Pathak along with a research team consists of pancreatic surgeons, oncologists and researchers from the University of Leeds aim to:

• Review existing evidence to form a diagnostic criterion, agreed upon by an expert panel.
• With this we will evaluate the number of patients in the UK diagnosed with oligometastatic disease.
• Construct treatment strategies, seeking consensus of both patients with lived experience of pancreatic cancer, and pancreatic cancer specialists.

Upon completion of this project, they will have established a foundation from which high quality, consistent research can be carried out. They are asking you to read their project summary as this will be invaluable in understanding the acceptability of more invasive treatments than the palliative chemotherapy that is currently advised for these patients.

Next steps

No scientific background or prior experience is needed to take part in this opportunity.

If you would like to give your feedback on this project, please contact the Research Team (research@pancreaticcancer.org.uk) quoting the involvement reference ‘Pathak’. We will then email you the lay summary and specific questions Dr Samir Pathak would like you to consider. Please return your responses to the research team by Tuesday 17th December 2024.