The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center

An End of Life Choice: Medical Donation

One way that patients with terminal pancreatic cancer can greatly benefit pancreatic cancer research is by agreeing to undergo an autopsy.

In 2003, the Gastrointestinal Cancer Rapid Medical Donation Program (GICRMDP) was initiated at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions to supplement ongoing research of pancreatic cancer. The principal investigator of this program, Dr. Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue, is committed to studying pancreatic cancers that have spread ("metastasized") to organs beyond the pancreas. Information gathered from the pancreatic cancer tissues collected at autopsy will form the basis for research directed towards the creation of new drugs to specifically target late stage pancreatic cancers.

There is no monetary benefit to the patient or their family for consenting to an autopsy as part of the GICRMDP, and there are no direct health benefits to the patient by joining this study. However, we strongly believe that any patient willing to undergo a research autopsy at the time of death will making the single most important contribution any individual could make to help researchers better understand and treat metastatic cancer. Participation in this study is purely voluntary and it may help other patients and their families in the future.

If this research study is something you would like to learn more about, please contact Dr. Iacobuzio