Nanoknife for pancreatic cancer

Posted by hopefulandpositive @hopefulandpositive, Apr 10, 2024

Hi,
My husband was diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma 7 months ago. It is inoperable because it is wrapped tightly around superior mesenteric artery. He has done 12 cycles of chemo (oxaliplatin, irinotecan and floururacil) but tumor has not shrunk but it hasn't spread/grew either. We were told that continuing chemo after this many sessions is not good for his bone marrow and another chemo regimen is unlikely to going to help if 5FU didn't. We are given an option to go through Nanoknife procedure to "freeze" the tumor. The surgeon said he has done 200 procedures in the last 7 years and there are still some patients who haven't had any additional growth. Does anyone have experience with nanoknife? How was it? Any concerns? Just trying to get more information on this procedure as we were told to make a decision as soon as possible as the tumor hasn't spread to other organs yet and he will no longer be a candidate if it presents spread.

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lvtexas | @lvtexas | Feb 20 8:58am

In reply to @tiffboss "I’m doing really well (knock on wood)! It’s been 2 years and 3 months since my..." + (show)

@tiffboss

Hello there! Thanks so much for your response that you did chemo and radiation before Nanoknife on May 19,2023 and are feeling great as of Feb 2026.

I had chemo, whipple (3/14/23) , recurrence (3/21/25) after two years in surgical bed (head of pancreas), different chemo and immunotherapy. Chemo and immunotherapy from 4/7/25-8/28/25. Then, Nanoknife 9/16/25 continuing on with immunotherapy until 12/17/25. I have an enlarged spleen now that we are trying to figure out root cause. I have low appetite and some chronic low grade fatigue. My CA19-9 was never a good indicator; however, the CEA has been rising from 3 up to 5. CtDNA through signatera shows positive but below measurable range. My current scan (2nd one post nanoknife shows no worsening or change of my condition -- stable , yea!).

So, next steps for me are figuring out spleen.
Seeing why my tumor markers aren't lower (CEA) or zero for Signatera.

Thank you for your support. I started this journey on 8/2022 so we are about the same timeline. I'd say your path has been wonderful. Keep on the monitoring and bless you!