When 83-year-old Miami resident Hernando Salcedo noticed his stomach swelling in May 2025, the diagnosis that followed was about as serious as it gets: stage III pancreatic cancer. Standard chemotherapy hit him hard, his family recalls, leaving him weak, barely eating and mostly stuck in bed. After he enrolled in a clinical trial at Miami Cancer Institute that delivers chemotherapy directly into the tumor through a catheter, Salcedo says his scans have stabilized and his energy has bounced back.
How the treatment works
The RenovoCath system is designed to deliver chemotherapy right where the tumor lives while sparing the rest of the body as much as possible. Two small inflatable balloons are used to isolate the artery feeding the tumor, creating a sort of temporary pocket. High-dose chemotherapy is then infused directly into that isolated area so far less of the drug circulates through the rest of the bloodstream.
Salcedo received this catheter-based treatment every other week for four months. He says that after each session he “felt fine the next day,” a sharp contrast to his earlier rounds of standard intravenous chemotherapy. Before he was allowed into the study, his case went before an expert panel at Miami Cancer Institute, which reviewed his situation and then offered him the trial option, as reported by CBS News.
Interim trial findings and context
Interim data from the Phase III TIGeR‑PaC study suggest a notable gap between the catheter approach and standard treatment. The analysis showed about a six‑month difference in median overall survival in favor of patients who received intra‑arterial gemcitabine through the RenovoCath system compared with those who had standard intravenous therapy, along with a substantial drop in treatment side effects.
At the time of that planned analysis, the study reported approximately a 60% improvement in survival and roughly a 65% reduction in adverse events for patients on the intra‑arterial regimen. Those interim results were presented at major oncology meetings. The study and its findings have been described in independent coverage by CancerNetwork, and the TIGeR‑PaC trial is listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Doctors and family note quality-of-life gains
For Salcedo and his doctors, the most tangible change has been day-to-day life. Dr. Ripal Gandhi, the interventional oncologist who treated him, told reporters that Salcedo’s cancer has been stable and that the catheter delivery helped preserve his quality of life.
“Because you’re isolating the chemotherapy, there is very little drug which is actually going through the body,” Gandhi explained.
Salcedo’s son said his father gradually regained his appetite and stamina and even felt well enough to fly to Colombia to attend a nephew’s wedding. The family’s account, shared with reporters, lines up with how the case has been described by the Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist Health.
Regulatory footing and what to watch
The RenovoCath delivery catheter itself is not brand-new. It received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2014, a status reflected in the agency’s public device database. The current question is how the system performs in a large, randomized trial for pancreatic cancer.
RenovoRx has reported that TIGeR‑PaC remains active and that a final Phase III readout is expected in 2027, based on the company’s investor disclosures and filings. Independent monitoring committees have recommended that the trial continue until it reaches its pre‑specified number of events. Clinicians involved with the research note that the ultimate place of this approach in pancreatic cancer care will depend on the full final analysis and peer‑reviewed publication of the results.
What patients should know
Even with new tools under study, pancreatic cancer remains a particularly tough disease. For regional or locally advanced cases, five‑year survival rates are still in the mid‑teens according to national cancer statistics.
Patients who want to learn more about the TIGeR‑PaC study can review eligibility criteria and participating sites on ClinicalTrials.gov. Oncologists also encourage patients to talk with their cancer care team about whether targeted delivery approaches like this might be an option within a clinical trial setting.
