Mayo Clinic to lead new radiotracer trial for detecting pancreatic cancer

(ABC 6 News) – In an academic-industrial collaboration, Mayo Clinic is assessing in a clinical trial a new radiotracer in pancreatic cancer imaging.

As part of the investigation, the new agent, 68Ga-Fibroblast-Activation-Protein-Inhibitors (FAPI)-46 (⁶⁸Ga-FAPI-46), will be compared with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), which is the current standard-of-care radiotracer, in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of pancreatic cancer.

“The research will focus on pancreatic cancer and evaluate whether this radiotracer does what it’s supposed to do, and whether it provides incremental information above and beyond the standard of care,” says Ajit Goenka, M.D., principal investigator and a Mayo Clinic radiologist.

“Seeing is saving,” says Dr. Goenka, a Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center member. “In addition to providing novel insights into the biology of the cancer and identifying subtle sites of metastasis, we are particularly excited about our potential ability to see the disease and target it with precision and minimally invasive therapeutics.”

For more information on the trial, visit HERE.