There are “standard” treatments — meaning they are adopted and approved by medical oversight groups such as the National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration because they have shown success at cures or at stopping the spread of certain types of cancer. Your oncologist has probably already told you about them. As a patient, if your doctor tells you that there is a standard treatment for your type and stage of cancer that offers an excellent, close to 100% “chance” (based on long term survival percentages) of curing your cancer and allowing you to return to a full and active life, with tolerable side effects during treatment and/or harmful after-treatment effects, that is the treatment choice you will probably make.
But if you have not been told that there is a standard treatment available that worked extremely well in other patients who shared the same characteristics as yourself (for example, age, gender, race) – then you will want to learn about, and check into the possibility of, all other treatment options. You will want to ask the question, “Is a clinical trial right for me?”
Here is where you and your “home team” of supporters should be your own medical advocate, and do the research. Ugh. I know I have been asking you to learn about this and learn about that, until you must be wondering if I have any idea of just how overloaded you are right now. But, this is super important.
Understand that it is possible that your oncologist just doesn’t know about any, or all, of the experimental trials for your type of cancer. And if your oncologist is not participating in clinical trials, he or she may have a bias against recommending that you even look at the possibility of participating in one.
So, begin by asking at all the cancer centers/hospitals near you geographically, “Do any of your doctors participate or are principal investigators in clinical trials for my type of cancer?” If the answer is no, and if you are willing to travel for treatment, you can also look up all clinical trials for your specific disease that oncology doctors are conducting throughout the country which are sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, by going to www.clinicaltrials.gov. To get current information on drug company-sponsored trials, go to the Internet site, www.CenterWatch.com.
Even if you find that you are not a candidate for a new trial that is just starting, circle back and check these databases for interim results of ongoing trials or study results of completed clinical trials, where your type of cancer is being studied. It may help you, as you examine all your treatment options and hopes for better treatments later.)
Here are some of the common reasons why you might want to consider becoming a participant in a clinical trial. If you:
- Have a cancer for which there is currently no standard treatment that has been shown to be routinely effective in reducing or curing your cancer.
- Have a cancer for which the standard treatment has been effective in some patients, but not shown to be effective for many others
- Are diagnosed with a later stage of disease, or were treated for your cancer, but it recurred later
- Have a cancer for which the standard treatment has been effective, but for which the research doctors are looking for new ways to reduce the side effects or to find new approaches that work better than standard treatment
- Want to consider a treatment that will take less time, cost less, or need less radical surgery or high doses, but still have the same or better outcome.
It is important for you to know that for some clinical trials, you may not be able to receive these new research treatments if you have already been given an older, standard treatment, so it may be very important to find out what clinical trials may be available before you and your doctor decide on an initial course of treatment.