Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

Pafolacianine Sodium for the Intraoperative Imaging of Gastrointestinal Cancer with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis

Trial Status: active

This phase I trial studies whether pafolacianine sodium (cytalux) works better than the standard approach at identifying cancer lesions that should be removed during surgery (intraoperative) in patients with gastrointestinal cancer that has spread to the abdominal lining (peritoneal carcinomatosis). Standard treatment for gastrointestinal cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis includes chemotherapy and surgery to remove all visible tissue (cytoreductive surgery). Surgery is performed by identifying possible cancerous lesions on the abdominal lining using the naked eye (visual identification) and touch (palpation). Pafolacianine sodium is a molecule that attaches to specific receptors (like a lock and key) on tumor cells with an indocyanine green-like dye and acts as a tumor-imaging agent for intraoperative identification of cancerous lesions. Near-infrared fluorescent imaging uses wavelengths in the infrared range and is used with fluorescent dyes, such as pafolacianine sodium, for targeted imaging applications. Using pafolacianine sodium for intraoperative imaging may work better than the standard approach at identifying cancer lesions that should be removed during cytoreductive surgery for gastrointestinal cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis.