Introduction: The Importance of Clinical Trials
Why Cancer Clinical Trials Are Important
Before reviewing how cancer clinical trials work, think about why they are important. Depending on your community, the people you work with, or the organizations you belong to, the reasons clinical trials are important to you and why more people need to participate may be different than the ones listed here.
Think about the reasons that have the most meaning for you or your community. Keep these reasons in mind as you go through this workbook.
Cancer Affects All of Us
Cancer affects us all-whether we have it, care about someone who does, or worry about getting it in the future.
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Research has shown that there are many differences between who develops cancer, who dies from cancer, and who is screened and treated for cancer among men and women, and among people of different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Clinical Trials Lead to Advances in Cancer Care
Clinical trials are a critical part of the research process. Clinical trials translate basic scientific research results into better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat cancer. Clinical trials are the final step in a long research process.
Clinical trials contribute to knowledge of and progress against cancer. Many of today's most effective cancer treatments are based on previous study results. Because of progress made through clinical trials, many people treated for cancer are now living longer.
The more people who participate in clinical trials, the faster critical research questions can be answered that will lead to better treatment and prevention options for all cancers. We will never know the true effectiveness of a cancer treatment or a way to prevent cancer unless more people are involved in clinical trials.
In the past, clinical trials were sometimes seen as the last resort for patients who had no other treatment choices. This is not true; there are many clinical trials for individuals whose cancer has not spread.
Few People with Cancer Take Part in Clinical Trials
Enormous improvements in treating childhood cancer have come about as the direct result of clinical trials; more than 60 percent of U.S. children with cancer participate in clinical trials. In 2000, more than 70 percent of children with cancer were alive 5 years after diagnosis, compared to only 55 percent in the mid-1970s.
In contrast, only 3 percent of U.S. adults with cancer participate in clinical trials - far fewer than the number needed to answer the most pressing cancer questions quickly.
According to a survey2 in 2000, most people with cancer were either unaware or unsure that participation in clinical trials was an option for their treatment, and most of them said they would have been willing to enroll had they known it was possible.
