Clinical research

Pancreas translational and clinical Center

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Head

Massimo Falconi

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Deputy Director

Gabriele Capurso

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Mission

The mission of the Pancreas translational and clinical Center is to create an integrated pathway for pancreatic diseases, transversal to all clinical specialties, through a multidisciplinary team of clinical experts and researchers in the field of Surgery, Gastroenterology, Pathology, Nuclear Medicine, Radiology, Radiotherapy, Oncology, all working side by side with basic science researchers.

Our view of pancreatic disorders considers the patients at the very center of a holistic clinical process and considers personalized medicine as a tool toward better clinical results.

To this aim, we investigate not only clinical strategies based on pathological, clinical and molecular features, but also the relevance of patient-reported outcomes and patient-reported experience measures, and take care of nutritional and psychological aspects of pancreatic disorders.

Organization

The Pancreas translational and clinical Center of IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele includes clinicians from different units in a fluid organization:

The whole of two Units: Pancreatic Surgery and PancreatoBiliary Endoscopy and Endoscopic Ultrasound constitute the backbone of the Center, with the following Clinical Units being involved with dedicated delegates in the Center’s Executive Board:

  • Oncology
  • Pathology
  • Radiology
  • Radiotherapy
  • Nuclear Medicine
  • Diabetes Research Institute
  • Immunology
  • Clinical Nutrition
  • Psychology
  • Anesthesia and Pain Management
  • Nursing

This organization involves over 100 personnel in a translational medicine setting. All cases are discussed in dedicated multidisciplinary “disease unit” meetings to establish the best clinical path.

Data Managers, Research and Navigators Nurses complete the Team and are active part of the clinical and research activities.

Members of the Center are part of the faculty of Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele. Residency programs, PhD programs and Post-Doc positions are active in the Center as Research couples with Teaching.

Several experts from the Center are involved in the design and implementation of major national and international guidelines for the clinical care of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic Cystic Lesions, care of individuals at increased familial risk of Pancreatic Cancer, Autoimmune Pancreatitis, Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis and Neuroendocrine Tumours.

Research

Clinical and basic researchers work together to investigate key and hot issues in pancreatic disorders with a particular interest on Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic Cystic Lesions, Neuroendocrine Tumours, Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis.

Several competitive grants have been assigned to researchers working on Pancreatic Disorders in the Center. Specifically, preclinical and clinical studies on factors affecting efficacy of medical treatments, variables associated with progression of preneoplastic lesions, and success of experimental oncological or locally ablative treatments on pancreatic neoplasms including registered Randomized Controlled Trials is ongoing.

A total of 65 peer-reviewed articles have been published by the members of the Center in 2019 and 71 in the first seven months of 2020.

Collaborations

The Pancreas translational and clinical Center daily collaborates with the following research groups, within IRCCS San Raffaele: