During the course of your treatment you may be asked if you would like to take part in a clinical trial.
What is a clinical trial?
Clinical trials are studies involving patients, conducted in order to help find better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat diseases.
Why are there clinical trials?
Studies involving cancer patients try to find out whether promising approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are safe and effective.
Clinical trials
The major advances that have been made in breast cancer treatment were first tested in carefully conducted clinical trials. Each clinical trial must be approved by an ethics committee established by each hospital and health service.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of participating in a clinical trial?
The advantage of participating in a clinical trial is that you may receive newer treatments that are not yet available to the general public and may be more effective. By participating in a clinical trial you will also be helping other women who are diagnosed with cancer in the future.
The disadvantage of participating in a clinical trial is that the newer treatments may not be more effective than standard treatments and may have more side effects. Also, many clinical trials have a control group which means that you may not receive the newer form of treatment during your participation in a trial. You will not be able to choose whether you are in the group that receives the newer treatment or in the control group. However, you will always receive the best proven care.
How do I decide whether to participate in a clinical trial?
If you are invited by your doctor to enter a clinical trial you need to weigh up the risks and benefits of this decision.
You should be assured that refusal to take part in a trial will not compromise your treatment in anyway. You are also able to leave a clinical trial at any time without prejudice to your ongoing treatment.
The consent form you sign ensures this. If you are interested, ask your doctor about any clinical trials that are appropriate for you.
For more information about clinical trials:
- phone the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre on (02) 9562 5000.
- email enquiry@ctc.usyd.edu.au
