A minimally Invasive surgical platform aGainst paNcreatIc and biliary Tract cancErs using cold atmospheric PLASMA

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Cancer is one of the major causes of death in Europe. Pancreatic (PC) and biliary tract (BTC) cancer are rare gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas with an increasing incidence particularly among the elderly and women in an ageing European population, and a poor prognosis poses major clinical challenges and public health burden. Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) has shown potential regressing various cancer types in the laboratory setting. Owing to their properties, CAP is a unique source of high concentrations of reactive radicals, electrons, ions, UV etc. that may induce various effects in living tissue. CAP has shown selectivity in where cancer cells are treated with minimal effect to healthy ones; this renders plasma suitable to treat carcinomas in very sensitive areas or organs where an unmet need to minimise damage/side-effects exists. CAP can be delivered through dielectric tubes of variable length, which makes it ideal for minimally invasive and precise laparoscopic and endoscopic operations. Despite the great promise and potential of this concept, there is no single laparoscopic or endoscopic medical platform in the market today based on CAP to treat carcinomas. This project proposes a novel solution using cutting-edge plasma technology, in-silico models, and a system-level approach. It will combine plasma with tumour multiscale simulations and will take input from pre-surgery diagnostics for in-silico model initialisation and CAP operational window determination. The developed technology will be demonstrated through in-vivo experiments, while the foundations for clinical trials and market introduction for CAP-based care of PC/BTCs will be laid out in this project.