ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07839676PANHEATUpdated Sep 24, 2026

A Prospective Study of Concurrent Hyperthermia, Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy in Borderline and Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer (PANHEAT)

An interventional study of Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy Arm Description: Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/nab Paclitaxel) followed by a) surgically resectable: Hyp in Borderline and Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, sponsored by Fernando Pessoa Canarias University. Not yet recruiting at 2 sites in Spain. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-24.

Sponsored by Fernando Pessoa Canarias University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The project proposes a prospective multicenter study to evaluate the incorporation of deep regional hyperthermia into the standard of care neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/NABPACLITAXEL) followed by radiotherapy in borderline and locally advanced ductal adenocarcinoma pancreatic cancer. Although current treatments, based on induction chemotherapy followed by surgery or radiotherapy in selected patients, have improved survival and resection rates, overall survival remains poor.

Hyperthermia is a therapeutic intensification strategy with a solid biological basis. By controlling tumor heating (39-43°C), it enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation therapy by improving tumor oxygenation, increasing perfusion, and inhibiting DNA damage repair, without adding significant systemic toxicity. The available clinical evidence, although based mainly on retrospective and small studies, suggests that the combination of HRP with multimodal treatments improves local control, favors conversion to surgery, and may prolong survival while maintaining a favorable safety profile.

The protocol contemplates the initial administration of induction chemotherapy (preferably mFOLFIRINOX or, alternatively, gemcitabine with nab-paclitaxel)plus hyperthermia followed by multidisciplinary reevaluation. Patients who deemed resectable will undergo surgery and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy and hyperthermia. Patients without metastatic progression who remain unresectable will receive SBRT in five fractions along with sessions of deep regional hyperthermia. Subsequently, the possibility of surgery will be assessed again and a standardized follow-up will be carried out with clinical, radiological, biochemical and pathological evaluation when appropriate.

The main objective of the study is to determine the impact of this strategy on overall survival. Secondary objectives will be to evaluate progression-free survival, local control, conversion rate to surgery, proportion of R0 resections, tumor response, safety, tolerability, and feasibility of treatment. With this, the study aims to provide prospective evidence on the role of hyperthermia as a therapeutic intensification strategy in localized pancreatic cancer.

02

Conditions studied

  • Borderline and Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Keywords

  • Hyperthermia, borderline, locally advanced, pancreatic cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy
03

In context

Hyperthermia

256 studies on the registry are indexed under Hyperthermia; 73 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is above the median of 40 across 232 interventional studies indexed under Hyperthermia.

Browse Hyperthermia studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Fernando Pessoa Canarias University as lead sponsor.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Patients of borderline or Locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Histopathologically proven ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (/cytology).

performance scale 0 and 1.

Age between 18 and 80 years.

Adequate kidney functionality defined as >50 ml/min.

Adequate liver functionality defined as total ≤2 times of the .

Adequate bone marrow reserves: WBC count ≥2.5 × 109/L, count ≥100 × 109/L, ≥8.0 g/L.

Women of child-bearing age must secure sufficient control (dual protection with condoms and pills) during the clinical trial and 6 months after the clinical trial is completed.

For females of child bearing potential, pregnancy test within 2 week prior to randomization should be negative.

Absence of psychological, familial, sociological or geographical condition that could potentially hamper compliance with the study protocol and follow-up schedule.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria

Absence of distant or gross peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Prior or concurrent .

Patients having metal implants, pacemakers or clustered markers.

Patients with metallic endobiliary stent would need to be replaced with plastic stents.

Any history of myocardial infarction within the past 12 months.

Any connective tissue disorder that contraindicate RT, e.g., scleroderma.

Pre-existing grade 2 peripheral neuropathy.

Any known or to the chemotherapeutic agents used in the study as decided by the medical oncologists.

Pregnancy, lactation period or lack of reliable .

Any other disease or therapy, which, according to the investigator, present a risk to the patient or which are not compatible with the aims of the clinical trial.

Indications that the person concerned will possibly not keep to the clinical trial plan because of unwillingness to cooperate or difficulties in keeping the check-up appointments.

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Terms in these criteria, in plain language(12)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy

    Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/nab Paclitaxel) followed by a) surgically resectable: Hyperthermia plus adjuvant chenmotherapy+/-radiotherapy b) surgically non-resectable: hyperthermia plus SBRT

    Device: Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy Arm Description: Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/nab Paclitaxel) followed by a) surgically resectable: Hyp

Interventions

  • DeviceHyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy Arm Description: Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/nab Paclitaxel) followed by a) surgically resectable: Hyp

    Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy Arm Description: Hyperthermia plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mFOLFIRINOX/nab Paclitaxel) followed by a) surgically resectable: Hyperthermia plus adjuvant chenmotherapy+/-radiotherapy b) surgically non-resectable: hyperthermia plus SBRT

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. overall survival

    Time from included in the study to death for any cause

    Time frame: one year

Secondary outcomes

  1. Progression Free Survival

    Time from included in the study to disease progression

    Time frame: one year

  2. Objective response rate (ORR)

    according to RECIST 1.1.

    Time frame: 6 months

  3. disease control rate (DCR),

    according to RECIST 1.1.

    Time frame: 6 months

  4. Biochemical response using CEA and CA 19-9.

    Modifications CEA and CA19.9 values

    Time frame: 6 months

  5. Conversion rate to surgery.

    Resectabiity after neoadjuvant treatment

    Time frame: 6 months

  6. R0 resection rate

    Rate of complete resection in surgically treated patients

    Time frame: 7 months

  7. Pathological response, including ypTNM and GRT.

    Pathological confirmed response after neoadjuvant treatment

    Time frame: 7 months

  8. Local progression-free survival as first cause of failure

    Time from included in the study to local progression after treatment as first site of failure

    Time frame: one year

  9. Acute and late toxicity chemotherapy and radiotherapy

    Acute and late toxicity of treatment according to CTCAE v5.0.

    Time frame: Acute: one month. Late: 12 months

07

Study locations

2 sites
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Issels RD, Boeck S, Pelzer U, Mansmann U, Ghadjar P, Lindner LH, Albertsmeier M, Angele MK, Schmidt M, Xu Y, Bahra M, Pratschke J, Schoenberg M, Thasler WE, Salat C, Stoetzer OJ, Knoefel WT, Graf D, Wessalowski R, Keitel-Anselmino V, Koenigsrainer A, Bitzer M, Zips D, Bamberg M, Fietkau R, Ott O, Kawecki M, Wyrwicz L, Rutkowski P, Rentsch M, Ababei J, Reichardt P, Rigamonti M, Weber B, Abdel-Rahman S, Tschoep-Lechner K, Jauch KW, Bruns CJ, Oettle H, von Bergwelt-Baildon M, Heinemann V, Werner J; European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology (ESHO) and the German Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer. Regional hyperthermia with cisplatin added to gemcitabine versus gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: The HEAT randomised clinical trial. Eur J Cancer. 2023 Mar;181:155-165. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.12.009. Epub 2022 Dec 30. PubMed 36657324 ↗
  • Datta NR, Pestalozzi B, Clavien PA, Siebenhuner A, Puric E, Khan S, Mamot C, Riesterer O, Knuchel J, Reiner CS, Bodis S; members of the HEATPAC Trial Group. "HEATPAC" - a phase II randomized study of concurrent thermochemoradiotherapy versus chemoradiotherapy alone in locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Radiat Oncol. 2017 Nov 21;12(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s13014-017-0923-8. PubMed 29162142 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — Data will be sharing under request due to ethic limitations

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Mar 2027; primary completion for Mar 2032, 60 months later.

Of 103 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Hyperthermia, half reached primary completion within 18 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 30. This study's planned 60 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 108 studies reached it within 18 months; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 30.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 13, 2026
First posted
Sep 24, 2026
StartEst.
Mar 31, 2027
Primary completionEst.
Mar 31, 2032
CompletionEst.
Mar 31, 2032
Last update
Sep 24, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 24, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07839676
Lead sponsor
Fernando Pessoa Canarias University
Responsible party
Pedro C Lara (Professor of Oncology, Fernando Pessoa Canarias University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 24, 2026
Start date
Mar 31, 2027 (estimated)
Primary completion
Mar 31, 2032 (estimated)
Completion
Mar 31, 2032 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 24, 2026

Study contacts

Pedro C Lara, MD, PhD
Contact
plara@ufpcanarias.es
+34928012800
Pedro C Lara, Md, PhD
principal investigator · Universidad Fernando Pessoa Canarias

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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