Convection enhanced delivery

The treatment of patients with DIPG seems to specifically suffer from highly impaired drug delivery due to an intact BBB. Therefore, near-future clinical studies that are being developed study the use of microcatheters into the DIPG tumor for drug delivery.

Robotic arm

Via microcatheters, drugs are infused over a long time period. This technique is called convection-enhanced delivery (CED).

The Princess Máxima Center received an advanced robotic arm system (Cirq by Brainlab), donated by the Semmy foundation (Robot van Tijn) after a nation-wide campaign in which DIPG patient Tijn Kolsteren (2010-2017) raised €1.3 million with a Netherlands-wide nail varnishing fundraiser.

The Cirq robotic arm can be used in future CED studies to optimally place catheters into the brainstem. In discussions with Brainlab and Pharma, early clinical trials of CED-mediated drug delivery are currently under development.

Research in the Van Vuurden laboratory will identify optimal drugs and/or drug combinations to be used via these catheters.