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Screenings The Cancer Institute offers free
community and professional education programs addressing the importance of cancer
screenings. Participants receive educational materials and hear local cancer
education experts discuss prevention, early detection and treatment of specific cancers.
These programs help educate the public about the importance of cancer prevention
and early detection, while encouraging people to seek intervention and take a more active
role in their personal health care.
This section provides general
information and guidelines on the following cancers along with useful web sites for
additional information.
Cancer screening overview:
Click Here
Clinical Trials
What are
clinical trials?
Clinical trials are research studies involving humans that provide
information about ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. The goal of
cancer clinical research is to find a better approach to cancer prevention,
screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Cancer clinical trials test treatments
such as: new drugs, new approaches to surgery, radiation therapy, new
combinations of treatments, methods such as gene therapy, or possible ways
to prevent cancer.
What are the types of clinical trials?
There are several different kinds of clinical trials including:
- Treatment trials – test new ways to treat cancer.
- Prevention trials – test new ways to lower the risk of getting a certain
cancer.
- Screening trials – test the best way to find cancer early.
- Quality of Life trials - finds ways to minimize side effects to help
patients have better quality of life.
Why should I participate in a clinical trial?
According to ClinicalTrials.gov, participants in clinical trials can play a
more active role in their own health care, gain access to new research
treatments before they are widely available, and help others by contributing
to medical research.
Many of today’s best ways to prevent, find, and treat cancer are all based
on past clinical trials.
Who can participate in clinical trials?
For patient safety, there are guidelines about who can and cannot
participate in a clinical trial. These factors include: age, gender, type of
disease, stage of disease, and other medical conditions. Some clinical
trials require people with cancer, while others seek healthy participants.
These guidelines are used to seek the participants needed to answer specific
scientific questions and to help determine the safety and effectiveness of
new cancer treatments.
What happens in a clinical trial?
In a clinical trial, patients receive their care from a team including
doctors, nurses, social workers, and other health care professionals. During
the course of the study, the team follows the patient’s progress closely and
carefully documents the effectiveness of the treatment or procedure.
Clinical trials take place in phases. Each phase helps scientists answer
questions about the safety and effectiveness of the anticancer approach
under study.
Phase I
After an agent or procedure proves promising in the laboratory setting, a
phase I clinical trial is designed. In this phase, researchers give the
treatment to a small group of people to determine safety, including the
maximum tolerated dose, look for the best way to give the new treatment, and
identify side effects.
Phase II
Phase II trials continue to test the safety of the treatment while
monitoring how effective it is against a specific cancer. For example, does
it shrink a tumor or improve blood test results?
Phase III
The goal of Phase III trials is to compare the new treatment to the
“standard of care” or the current accepted treatment for a specific cancer.
These studies provide valuable information to help scientists learn if the
new treatment is better, as good as, or worse than the standard treatment.
Phase IV
This phase occurs after the product is approved and marketed; it provides
scientists with information about the long term benefits and risks of a
specific anticancer approach.
What are the benefits of a clinical trial?
Clinical trials are vital to cancer research. They provide the information
necessary to develop new options to treat cancer and improve the lives of
cancer patients. Without these studies cancer research would not be where it
is today.
Some benefits to participating in a clinical trial are:
- Take an active role in a decision that benefits your own health care.
- Gain access to new cancer research treatments before they are widely
available.
- Obtain high-quality cancer care at leading health care facilities.
- Helps to improve cancer treatment for people who may get cancer in the
future.
What are the risks of a clinical trial?
Before a clinical trial can be done it is reviewed and approved by an
Institutional Review Board. This board includes consumers, clergy, and
health care professionals who make sure the study is safe, and will not
expose the patient to extreme health risks. For patient safety, there are
also guidelines about who can and cannot participate in a clinical trial.
These factors include: age, gender, type of disease, stage of disease, and
other medical conditions.
Important risk factors to consider are:
- All treatments have possible side effects.
- New treatments may not be as good as the standard treatments.
- The new treatment may not be effective for you.
- Health insurance does not always cover costs in research studies.
How can I participate in a clinical trial?
The following websites provide a list of numerous clinical trials:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/search
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search
http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/trials.html
Clinical trial myths and facts
MYTH- Many people believe that a cancer clinical trial is a last
resort.
FACT- According to the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative
Groups,
participation in a clinical trial should be considered as early as onset of
treatment. For cancer patients, those initial decisions about treatment are
the most important, setting the course for how the disease will be managed.
More and more cancer patients are finding out that enrolling in a cancer
clinical trial as part of their initial treatment can make an important
difference.
MYTH- Clinical trials are only offered at large medical institutions.
FACT- Community hospitals, physician practices and academic centers
throughout
the United States offer clinical trials.
MYTH- Patients that take part in clinical trials are treated like
“guinea pigs.”
FACT- According to the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative
Groups, 97% of
survey respondents who participated in clinical trials reported that they
were treated with dignity and respect and received excellent or good quality
care.
MYTH- If you sign a consent form you must receive treatment until the
clinical trial is
over.
FACT- This is not true! You can stop the treatment at anytime, even
if you sign a
consent form.
Additional Clinical Trial Resources
Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, Inc.
U.S. National Institutes of Health National
Cancer Institute
MAMM, Women, Cancer and Community
Center Watch Clinical Trials Service Center |
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Cancer Clinical
Trials…
A local perspective from breast cancer survivor, Karen Reid
By Sarah Herbert
People who are diagnosed with cancer are often reluctant to participate in
clinical trials. But without clinical trials, cancer research and treatments
would not have advanced to where they are today, as cancer patient and
clinical trial participant, Karen Reid attests.
When Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 2003, she was
faced with a lot of information and decisions. Like most people, she was
unaware of the choices she had concerning her treatment. As she was
consulting with her oncologist about a treatment plan, she was asked if she
was interested in participating in a clinical trial.
“My doctor explained to me that this clinical trial would work with the
regimen that I chose to treat my cancer,” said Karen.
Thinking of women before her who had engaged in clinical trials, Karen was
inspired to participate.
“These women supplied physicians with greater tools, knowledge and
experience, enabling my doctor to offer me choices in my treatment,”
explained Karen, adding that, “The willingness of these women to participate
in the past made it possible for me to recover.”
Karen is grateful she has the chance to help others, an opportunity she
credits her oncologist.
“My family, specifically my daughters, my friends and the community will
benefit from the advancements in medicine, and my oncologist will gain new
knowledge from the research findings of this study,” said Karen. “It is my
way of thanking everyone who has helped me during my cancer recovery.”
Karen is participating in a three-year clinical trial. The drug being tested
is designed specifically for breast cancer patients who are at risk of
developing bone cancer. While Karen does not know if she is taking the
actual drug or the placebo, she is happy to be helping.
She encourages people to get involved in clinical trials, or at least be
willing to learn more about them.
“They are not as risky as some people think, and we have to help each other.
We are all in this together,” said Karen.
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