Should I take part in a Clinical Trial?

Before you decide to participate in a Clinical Trial, you should speak with a doctor, nurse, or other member of the research team to see if the trial is right for you. Each study has specific guidelines for which patients could benefit from that research study. The research team will help you find out if you are eligible for a trial. This process usually involves reviewing your medical history, recent labwork, and past surgeries or biopsies to see if you are eligible. Sometimes, the eligibility process will involve running new tests that are required prior to enrollment.

If you do decide to take part in a trial that you are eligible for, a member of our research team will review the consent form with you. The consent form includes details of everything that the study requires. It explains the purpose and description of the study, the treatment you will be on, the procedures that will be done, how often you will need to see your doctor, the duration of the study, and any potential side effects. This process should help you decide if you want to participate in this trial. When reviewing the consent form, you should ask any questions that you might have regarding the study. If you wish to participate in the trial, you will be asked to sign the consent form. For a list of questions you should ask your research team, see “Participating in a Clinical Trial – Questions to Ask Your Doctor” in the next section.

If you decide to participate in a trial, you will either receive the best accepted treatment for the kind of cancer you have (we refer to this as “standard treatment”), or you will receive a treatment that doctors hope will be better than the standard treatment. Patients are “randomly” assigned to the treatment group. The research team cannot choose for you. On some studies, you will know right away which treatment you are getting, and on other studies, the exact treatment you are getting is not revealed to you until after you have completed the study. Because each person responds differently to treatment, it isn’t known for sure if the new treatment will help you better than the standard treatment. When deciding to participate in a Clinical Trial, consider these possible benefits and risks:

Risks

• New cancer treatments may have risks or side effects unknown to the doctors.
• The experimental treatment may not be effective for you.
• The study may require more of your time than would an off-study course of treatment. It may include increased trips to the study site, additional treatments, hospital stays, or complex dosage requirements.

Benefits

• Play an active role in your own health care.
• Receive healthcare from leading physicians in the field of cancer treatment.
• Gain access to new research treatments before they are widely available.
• Obtain expert medical care at leading health care facilities during the trial.
• Help others by contributing to medical research.