Current Development of Iron Oxide Nanomaterials as MRI Theranostic Agents for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive type in pancreatic cancer. PDAC is difficult to diagnose due to lack of symptoms in early stages, resulting in survival of less than 10%. Moreover, often cancerous tissues cannot be surgically resected due to their deep abdomen location. Therefore, early detection is the essential strategy enabling effective PDAC treatment. Over the past few years, the development of nanomaterials for MRI has expanded and improved imaging quality and diagnostic accuracy. Nanomaterials can be currently designed, manufactured and synthesized with other structures to provide improved diagnosis and advanced therapy. Although MRI equipped with the innovative nanomaterials became a powerful tool for diagnosis and treatment of patients with various cancers, detection of PDAC remains challenging. In this review, we discuss the current applications and properties of iron oxide nanoparticles applied for the detection of pancreatic cancer with MRI in clinical environment.