What is a clinical trial (and what's in
it for me)?
The type of treatment for Stage I and Stage II non-small cell lung cancer is well established, but treatment for many patients in stage III and all patients in stage IV is not. Treatment improvements are also needed in the management of small cell lung cancer programs. What treatment should be given to these patients? Since a treatment with proven efficacy is not available, cancer treatment centers and national organizations have set up clinical trials to try and find effective treatments. Here is a new web site that gives information on experimental approaches to treatment of small cell lung including transcripts and power point slide presentations of lectures from recent symposia on lung cancer and other topics State of the Science A symposium on non-small cell lung cancer is scheduled in June 2000.For a list of National Comprehensive Cancer Centers try this link NCCC A clinical trial is an experimental attempt to treat the cancer with a new treatment, in such a controlled fashion that the usefullness of the new treatment will be established with as much certainty as possible. Why should an individual patient with a cancer for which there is no good treatment take part in such a clinical trial? This is a more difficult question. Many patients are put off at first by the concept of being "in an experiment". In my experience, a clinical trial offers the patient a treatment plan that has been very carefully devised by national experts in the treatment of lung cancer, with long and extensive experience in the development of new treatment protocols (organized treatment plans). There are a number of study groups with active clinical trials of new treatments for patients with lung cancer. These groups consist of surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists from many different institutions and practices who cooperate to devise and conduct clinical studies. The following links will take you to the home pages of large cooperative groups where you can read their general statements and search through their lists of current treatment protocols.
Another large cooperative group is the Cancer and Leukemia Group B. I could not find their web page. Although not immediately applicable to this page, Pediatric cooperative groups can be found here Pediatric Groups In some cases, more than one of these groups will cooperate to produce "Intergroup Trials". Clinical trials offer the patient a very complete informed consent policy, rigid ethical standards and careful supervision of safety and treatment of possible side effects. Many patients are interested in the concept, that by participating in a clinical trial, they may be contributing to the benefit of others who will have the same disease in the future. Some patients will not be candidates for clinical trials for various reasons. In such patients, the treatment plan must be individualized based on the best information available.. For more detailed information on this subject- for patients.NCI/PDQ Patient Statement: Clinical trials information for patients - Updated 05/95 For more information on this subject- for physiciansClinical Trials An example of some specific clinical trials for lung cancer can be found at these sites. and Stanford Another resource for patients and physicians looking for information on clinical trials in the Physician Data Query (PDQ) which can be accessed here.
Frederic W. Grannis Jr. M.D If you have trouble contacting me with the address above, I may also be reached at 76516,2333@compuserve.com and at fgrannis@cris.com |