A treatment clinical trial is a research study to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment [23].
Stomach cancer receives a small amount of attention in comparison to other cancers such as prostate or breast cancer, so stomach cancer clinical trials are smaller in number. Researching clinical trials in your region or asking a health care professional if they know of any is an effective way of finding ones to enrol in. It is important to remember that only a health care professional can enrol you in a clinical trial [24].
If you are considering taking part in a clinical trial, here are some questions to ask your doctor (via Breast Cancer Society of Canada):
- Why is this trial being done?
- What are my other options (standard treatments other studies)? What are their advantages and disadvantages?
- What kind of tests and treatments does the study involve? How often are they done?
- Will this require an extra time commitment on my part?
- How could the study affect my daily life?
- What side effects might I expect from the study treatment? (Remember that there can also be side effects from standard treatments and from the disease itself.)
It is essential to have a completely transparent relationship between the patient and the practitioner when considering and/or taking part in clinical trials.
More Clinical Trial Resources
Canadian cancer trials is a great place to start when searching for clinical trials; search with different criteria such as cancer type, province, drug, and so on.
Cancerview.ca An online network connecting Canadians to quality cancer resources. This website gives a list of clinical trials taking place around Canada.
Canadatrials.com CanadaTrials.com is a public source of information for patients, families and physicians, listing a searchable database of Clinical Research Trials that are actively enrolling patients in Canada.
Canadian Centre for Clinical Trials (CCCT) CCCT works closely with the public and the health care community to recruit qualified candidates for participation in clinical trials and scientific studies in order to test the efficacy of investigational medications and treatments.