IN THIS SECTION:
(Prospective Patients)
(Prospective Patients)
(National Cancer Institute photo)
Myth: Cancer clinical trials are for people who have no other options.
Fact: Trials are often another option that offers a treatment plan that may better a ddress the patient's needs and continue their quality of life.
Myth: I will receive inferior treatment.
Fact: Clinical trials often are an option for a different and possibly better or more effective treatment.
Myth: I am a human guinea pig.
Fact: Institutional Review Boards comprised of local physicians, nurses, ethics and legal experts, and community leaders must approve all clinical trials and the informed consent documents before they are approved for people to participate in. These boards have the responsibility to assure that there are no unreasonable risks, compared to the benefits to the human subject. Most clinical trials testing new drug treatments have already been tested in labs in animals and humans.
Myth: Trials always include a placebo or "sugar" pill.
Fact: Placebos are used only when there is no standard care treatment already available. Placebos are rarely used in cancer clinical trials. They are never used in the place of the standard care treatment already given. Any clinical trial that involves a test group that will receive no treatment must inform participants in advance that the trial has a placebo arm.
A suggested reading is, "Taking Part in Clinical Trials: What Cancer Patients Need to Know" by the National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute at http://cancertrials.nci.nih.gov. You can obtain this publication free by calling 1-800-4CANCER, toll-free.