(L-R) Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) Director Steven D. Leach, MD, and Surajit Dhara, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, working together in the Leach laboratory at NCCC to bring change to the treatment of pancreatic cancer with new technology.
By 2030, the most lethal form of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Not only are therapeutic options limited, but nearly half of PDAC patients who have their tumors removed surgically experience disease recurrence within a year, even with chemotherapy. For more advanced stages, approximately one-third of patients have a limited response to chemotherapy.