Research

Acute Pancreatitis

  • Develop and implement clinical decision support tools to increase adherence to accepted clinical best practices, improve clinical outcomes and lower hospitalization costs for patients.
  • Quantify and reduce the risk and severity of acute pancreatitis due to the procedure endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) through patient selection, pharmacologic therapy, hydration and prophylactic pancreatic duct stenting.
  • Investigate molecular mechanisms of pancreatic injury, healing and/or pancreatic cancer (e.g. ADAM17, Hedgehog signaling) that may translate to future clinical treatment targets

Chronic Pancreatitis

  • Measure and identify specific factors that influence quality of life
  • Characterize pain pattern and identify predictors for reducing abdominal pain in response to medical, endoscopic and surgical interventions
  • Improve the clinical application of endoscopic ultrasonography, direct pancreatic function testing and biomarkers to establishing a firm diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis

Autoimmune Pancreatis

  • Determine the most effective medical treatment
  • Identify prognostic markers to disease progression and risk for cancer

Hereditary Pancreatitis

  • Determine cancer risk in hereditary pancreatitis and other familial pancreatic cancer conditions
  • Develop a patient registry and establish a prospective protocol
  • Identify biomarkers for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in this high-risk population

Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

  • Determine the effectiveness of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy and important cofactors necessary for correcting exocrine pancreatic insufficiency
  • Investigate the utility of direct pancreatic function testing in chronic pancreatitis.
  • Understand regulation of pancreatic digestive function in health and disease mediated by calcium, insulin, nitric oxide and neural signaling.
  • Explore dietary approaches to pancreatic regeneration to achieve an adequate supply of pancreatic digestive enzymes

Cystic Fibrosis

  • Clarify mechanisms for pancreatitis associated with cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) mutations
  • Recognize the impact of CFTR genotype on pancreatic digestive function

Pancreatic Cysts

  • Delineate the natural history of pancreatic cysts
  • Identify risk factors for malignant pancreatic cysts
  • Identify imaging and biomarker predictors for evolution of cystic tumors to cancer
  • Develop a clinical decision tool for patients and clinicians

Pancreatic and Ampullary Cancer

Discriminate benign from malignant pancreatic disease using biomarkers and optical imaging

  • Predict pancreatic cancer outcomes based on clinical risk factors (smoking, alcohol, diabetes)
  • Determine the differential impact of stent type on treatment of malignant biliary obstruction
  • Define and test new metabolic drug targets in pancreatic cancer
  • Understand how signaling pathways predispose to early steps in pancreatic carcinogenesis (e.g. acinar to duct metaplasia, epithelial to mesenchymal transition)
  • Investigate how signaling pathways promote tumor survival, growth and invasion (e.g. involving Usp9x, NRF2 and Hedgehog)

 

Neuroendocrine Tumors

  • Determine the accuracy and cost effectiveness of endoscopic ultrasonography for diagnosing pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
  • Investigate the natural history of asymptomatic sporadic and syndromic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

Research Studies (selected publications)

  • D'Souza S L, Elmunzer BJ, Scheiman JM: Long-term follow-up of asymptomatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in multiple endocrine neoplasia type I syndrome. J Clin Gastroenterol 2014, 48:458-461
  • Wamsteker EJ, Gauger PG, Thompson NW, Scheiman JM: EUS detection of pancreatic endocrine tumors in asymptomatic patients with type 1 multiple endocrine neoplasia. Gastrointest Endosc 2003, 58:531-535.
  • Gauger PG, Scheiman JM, Wamsteker EJ, Richards ML, Doherty GM, Thompson NW: Role of endoscopic ultrasonography in screening and treatment of pancreatic endocrine tumours in asymptomatic patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Br J Surg 2003, 90:748-754.
  • Anderson MA, Carpenter S, Thompson NW, Nostrant TT, Elta GH, Scheiman JM: Endoscopic ultrasound is highly accurate and directs management in patients with neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas. Am J Gastroenterol 2000, 95:2271-2277.
  • Bansal R, Tierney W, Carpenter S, Thompson N, Scheiman JM: Cost effectiveness of EUS for preoperative localization of pancreatic endocrine tumors. Gastrointest Endosc 1999;49:19-25.
  • Bansal R, Kochman ML, Bude R, Nostrant TT, Elta GH, Thompson NW, Scheiman JM: Localization of neuroendocrine tumors utilizing linear-array endoscopic ultrasonography. Gastrointest Endosc 1995;42:76-79
  • Thompson NW, Czako PF, Fritts LL, Bude R, Bansal R, Nostrant TT, Scheiman JM: Role of endoscopic ultrasonography in the localization of insulinomas and gastrinomas. Surgery 1994;116:1131-1138.

Publications – PubMed Links