Skip to main content
The goal of this study is to investigate whether the therapeutic response of pancreatic tumors can be accurately assessed using quantitative DCE-MRI, when the inter/intra-scanner variability is reduced using the Point-of-care Portable Perfusion Phantom, P4. The intra-scanner variability over time leads to errors in therapy monitoring, while the inter-scanner variability impedes the comparison of data among institutes. The P4 is small enough to be imaged concurrently in the bore of a standard MRI scanner with a patient for real-time quality assurance. The P4 is safe, inexpensive and easily operable, thus it has great potential for widespread and routine clinical use for accurate diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring. This study has identified two arms, one arm is healthy individuals that will undergo DCE MRI at three different MRI locations to establish baseline results. The healthy volunteers will undergo these MRIs prior to the second arm, which contains patients with pancreatic cancer. The pancreatic cancer patients will only have DCE MRI done at one location.

Wenhan Zhu, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology

Wenhan Zhu, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology

wenhan.zhu@vumc.org

Research Program

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information

Laura Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology)

Laura Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology)

laura.kennedy@vumc.org

Research Program

Research Description

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information

Wei-qi Wei, MD, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Wei-qi Wei, MD, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

wei-qi.wei@vumc.org

Research Program

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information

Elma Zaganjor, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Elma Zaganjor, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

elma.zaganjor@Vanderbilt.Edu

Research Program

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information

Sonya Reid, M.D., M.P.H.

  • Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology)
  • Assistant Director, Community Outreach and Engagement

Sonya Reid, M.D., M.P.H.

  • Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology)
  • Assistant Director, Community Outreach and Engagement

sonya.reid@vumc.org

Research Program

Research Description

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information

Maria Piazuelo, M.D.

  • Research Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition)

Maria Piazuelo, M.D.

  • Research Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition)

maria.b.piazuelo@vumc.org

Research Program

Research Description

Have any questions? Contact Us 1-877-936-8422 for more information
The purpose of this study is to compare the two approaches for monitoring pancreatic cysts. The study doctors want to compare more frequent monitoring vs less frequent monitoring in order to learn which monitoring method leads to better outcome for patients with pancreatic cysts.

Featured Speakers:

Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS

(Vanderbilt University Medical Center)

is the William K. Warren Endowed Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Chief of Academic General Pediatrics at the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She also serves as the Executive Director for the Nashville Collaborative, an academic-community partnership to develop and test two-generation obesity prevention and treatment solutions working with the Department of Parks and Recreation. Dr. Barkin’s research focus is on clinical interventions to reduce pediatric obesity during critical windows of childhood development in underserved populations.

Stephen Hursting, PhD, MPH

(UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center)

is the AICR/WICR Distinguished Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He is also Professor at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Hursting’s research interests center on precision nutrition as applied to cancer prevention, particularly the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying obesity-cancer associations, and the interplay between obesity, metabolism, host genetics and cancer. His lab is establishing that targeting growth factor signaling pathways, inflammation-associated immunosuppression, and the gut microbiome can reverse the procancer effects of obesity.

Bette J. Caan, DrPH

(Kaiser Permanente Division of Research)

is a senior research scientist and a nutritional epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. Dr. Caan is the former Director of the Early Stage Investigator Training Program, and she directs a research program focused on body composition and energy balance risk factors. She has expertise in the assessment of diet and body composition and the conduct of dietary intervention trials, and has recently published several papers on the obesity paradox in cancer, advocating that body mass index (BMI) misclassifies patients with regard to adiposity, and is also in part responsible for the identification of the obesity paradox.

William Murphy, PhD

(UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center)

is a Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Departments of Dermatology and Internal Medicine (Division of Hematology/Oncology) at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Murphy’s laboratory studies various aspects within cancer immunology and immunotherapy, including immune responses to pathogens. Additionally, his research also focuses on methods to make preclinical modeling more reflective of the clinical scenario by incorporating human modifying factors such as obesity, aging, and prior immune exposures. His laboratory uses multiple models (including viral) and species (ranging from mouse, feline, canine, nonhuman primate and clinical sample) to integrate/link immune signatures and responses to pathogens, immunotherapies, or immune challenges.

Subscribe to