Surgery offers pancreatic cancer patients the best chance for long-term survival, yet only 10-15% of patients are diagnosed early enough to qualify for surgery. We know early intervention works: the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer for localized disease is 42%, as opposed to 3% for metastatic disease. The need to progress early detection and interception tools is critical and Lustgarten-supported researchers are up for the challenge!
The Lustgarten Foundation is committed to funding the development and delivery of tools to enable early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, including screening in the general population and approaches for risk assessment, management, and interception in high-risk groups ultimately giving patients and their families more help—and more hope—than ever before.
Lustgarten-funded early detection and interception research projects aim to:
- Understand the biology of early pancreatic cancer and pre-cancers.
- Develop tools for improved risk assessment and identification of high-risk groups.
- Identify and validate biomarkers and imaging approaches for detection of pancreatic cancer and pre-cancers.
- Identify and validate targets and therapeutic approaches for disease interception and prevention.
- Clinically test interception.
- Optimize biomarkers enabling early detection in the general population.