Understand the options for cancer care
IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE face a cancer diagnosis, you may want to consider discussing clinical trial options with your oncologist or health care team. For many people who have cancer, clinical trials can offer hope and access to innovative treatments that may offer better outcomes than current standard therapies.
Clinical trials drive progress in cancer care and are vital to developing new treatments. In fact, every standard-of-care treatment that we give to patients today started as a clinical trial. By participating in a clinical trial, patients also have a chance to contribute to scientific progress and help others fighting cancer in the future.
Types of clinical trials
Clinical trials are structured research studies that test new ways to find, prevent and treat cancer. They also help doctors improve the quality of life for people with cancer by testing ways to manage the side effects of cancer and its treatment. Many cancer clinical trials are treatment studies that involve people who have cancer. These trials test treatments including new drugs, vaccines, approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, or new ways of using existing treatments more effectively. There are also prevention and screening studies that look at ways to prevent cancer or find it before it causes symptoms, when it may be easier to treat.
Finding a trial
For a trial that meets your treatment goals, start by discussing clinical trial options with your oncologist. An oncologist can guide you based on your diagnosis and treatment history. Patients at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, or those with referring physicians, can also contact Markey research nurse navigators directly at (859) 323-7628 to learn more. Markey offers many clinical trials and research studies. Patients can search for open trials available at https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center. A full list of trials supported by the National Cancer Institute can also be found at http://www.cancer.gov.
SUSANNE ARNOLD, M.D., is a medical oncologist and associate director of clinical translation at the UK Markey Cancer Center.
