GALVESTON, Texas - Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are taking part in a clinical study evaluating a new drug delivery system to treat a certain type of liver cancer: metastases from malignant melanoma. Malignant melanoma is a skin cancer that is very difficult to treat once it spreads to liver.
Dr. Orhan S. Ozkan, associate professor of radiology, is the principal investigator for a method developed by Delcath Systems that allows physicians to deliver significantly higher amounts of anti-cancer drugs directly to the diseased area. UTMB will be the only place where the treatment will be available in a region that includes Texas.
"We are excited about being a part of this clinical trial and being the first center to offer this treatment modality to patients in this region," Ozkan said. "This treatment offers tremendous promise for patients suffering from metastatic melanoma in the liver, and we are pleased to be able to offer this option to our patients."
The device works much like a water pump does in an automobile engine. When the anti-cancer drug is injected into the liver selectively through tubes, the device collects the blood that has high concentration of the drugs from the effluent of the liver that is filtered using a filtration system. The blood then is returned to the bloodstream. This way the liver can be treated with a high dose of anticancer drugs with little effect on other organs.
Previous studies, according to Delcath, have shown that the direct delivery method allows more anti-cancer drugs to be administered directly to a tumor and speeds up the shrinkage of a tumor.
UTMB and Delcath entered the clinical research agreement to conduct a Phase III National Cancer Institute-led study that also includes five other cancer treatment facilities, all located on the East Coast.
Richard Taney, president and CEO of Delcath, said that the company will continue efforts to make "this treatment option available at leading cancer centers throughout the United States, and Dr. Ozkan's participation will provide patients in the southwest portion of the country access to this trial and provides an important treatment option to patients diagnosed with inoperable metastatic melanoma to the liver. The interest in PHP by the physicians treating this fatal condition continues to grow and we continue working to expand the geographic reach of this trial."
Ozkan will be working as a part of a team at UTMB that includes Dr. William Nealon, surgical oncologist, Dr. Avi Markovitz, medical oncologist, Dr. Daneshvari Solanki, anesthesiologist, John Roach, perfusionist, Drs. Manoj Kathuria and Amanjit Gill, interventional radiologists and Jacqueline Aoughsten, study coordinator.