Articles on the IRTIC research axes have been already published and have been the object of interest by the scientific community and the identified private-sector partners.
«HYPERTHERMIC ISOLATED LIVER PERFUSION WITH MELPHALAN AND BEVACIZUMAB»
(Chimiohyperthermie sur foie isolé perfusé avec du bévacizumab et du melphalan)
Authors : VORON T, ZINZINDOHOUE F, JOURNOIS D, HERVE C, PONZIO O, LUCAS N
Summary : Whereas surgical resection is the only curative treatment for liver tumors, effective treatment for isolated unresectable lesions when there is tumor progression in spite of several lines of chemotherapy remains to be found. We report herein two cases of patients treated by a 1-hour Hyperthermic Isolated Liver Perfusion (HILP) with a combination of melphalan and bevacizumab leading to complete response. The first patient had liver metastases secondary to previously resected malignant glucagonoma and the second, recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma. We used bevacizumab in association with melphalan for HILP because of the additional effect of an anti-VEGF antibody in these highly vascularized tumors and its locally restricted delivery to the isolated hepatic vascular compartment despite of its classic contraindication in association with surgery. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee. Enhanced CT scans during follow-up showed complete tumor necrosis as early as the second postoperative day. Patients had 27 and 7 months disease-free survival and 48 and 41 months overall survival after HILP, for neuroendocrine liver metastases and HILP plus liver transplantation for HCC respectively. Under very specific conditions, bevacizumab in HILP can provide excellent tumor response in hopeless clinical cases of liver tumors.
«REAL TIME SHEAR WAVES ELASTOGRAPHY MONITORING OF THERMAL ABLATION: IN VIVO EVALUATION IN PIG LIVERS»
Authors : MARIANI A, KWIECINSKI W, PERNOT M, BALVAY D, TANTER M, CLEMENT O, CUENOD CA, ZINZINDOHOUE F
Summary : Thermal ablation is a widely used minimally invasive treatment modality for different cancers. However, lack of a real-time imaging system for accurate evaluation of the procedure is one of the reasons of local recurrences. Shear waves elastography (SWE) is a new ultrasound (US) imaging modality to quantify tissue stiffness. The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility and accuracy of US elastography for quantitative monitoring of thermal ablation and to determine the elasticity threshold predictive of coagulation necrosis.