The Jreissati Pancreatic Centre has reached an important milestone, with its first research publication accepted in BMC Cancer. Read the publication here.

The study, led by JPCE Clinical Trial Coordinator Dr Sue Thang and affiliated clinician Dr Prasad Cooray, reviewed outcomes for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) alongside chemotherapy.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most challenging cancers to treat. Most people are diagnosed after the disease has already spread, often to the liver, where it can drive symptoms and limit treatment options. While chemotherapy remains the standard of care, outcomes are often limited. This has led to interest in treatments that directly target liver tumours.

SIRT delivers radiation directly to liver tumours, providing a localised treatment approach alongside systemic chemotherapy. This study explored how different chemotherapy combinations may influence outcomes when used with SIRT in routine clinical care.

Key findings

The analysis of 32 patients found that those who received platinum-based chemotherapy with SIRT had longer periods before their cancer worsened compared with patients who received other chemotherapy combinations.

The most favourable outcomes were observed when this combination was used earlier in treatment. Patients who received platinum-based chemotherapy with SIRT as a first-line approach had a median time before disease progression of 10 months and a median survival of 16 months after treatment.

Outcomes were similar for patients whose cancer had spread beyond the liver. This suggests that control of liver disease remains an important factor in managing advanced pancreatic cancer.

The treatment combination was also generally well tolerated, with no treatment-related deaths observed shortly after SIRT.

“This is an area where we still have many unanswered questions,” said Dr Prasad Cooray. “Our study provides real-world observational data suggesting that combining SIRT with platinum-based chemotherapy, particularly earlier in the treatment pathway, may be associated with longer disease control in selected patients. These findings are early observational results, but they also offer a clearer direction for future prospective research. In a disease where treatment options are limited, even incremental advances are important and warrant further exploration.”

Further information