Raising awareness and hope through research, education and treatment
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The 14th Annual Bigelow Open golf outing was a sellout! Thanks to the support of you and many others, we achieved the goal of $1 Million in total contributions to the IU Pancreatic Cyst and Early Detection Center.
As a result of the success of the Bigelow Open, the IU Pancreatic Cyst and Cancer Early Detection Center is now dedicated to the memory of Mike Bigelow
Bigelow Open
Save the Date
July 2024
Check back for details soon
This year's Bigelow Open is sold out, but you can always make a contribution toward the research...
"The other window of opportunity is patients who have precancerous lesions, such as cysts ... if these are found and the patients undergo surveillance, then we can prevent them from becoming cancerous."
Dr, C. Max Schmidt
Md, PhD, MBA
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The mission of the PCC-EDC is to promote early detection and prevent pancreatic cancer through multidisciplinary screening clinics, registries, community outreach, education and research discovery.
The Pancreatic Cyst and Cancer Early Detection Center (PCC-EDC) is located in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a part of IU Health and the IU School of Medicine.
The Impact
- Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (pancreatic cancer) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States (US), with mortality nearly equal to incidence.
- Less than 5% of patients survive five years from the time of diagnosis.
- Pancreatic cancer is anticipated to account for 48,000 deaths in the US this year alone.
Treatment
- This incidence of cancer-related mortality is nearly equivalent to breast cancer in the US.
- Surgery can cure patients with pancreatic cancer but this occurs rarely.
- Surgical cure is possible only when the cancer is detected early.
- Non-surgical treatment modalities have been largely ineffective.
- Pancreatic cancer thus represents the deadliest cancer.
Early Detection
- A cure for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is actively being sought.
- A significant difference can be made today by accurately identifying groups of patients at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
- Screening and stratifying the risk promotes early detection and prevention.
Videos
Kris Bigelow tells about the challenges that her husband, Mike, had faced after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
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