5 Important Facts About Mesothelioma Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are vital in studying all aspects of medicine, not just cancer. They are particularly even more important in the research for newer and more effective treatments for terminal diseases like mesothelioma cancer, but all new treatments (drugs and medical devices) actually pass through clinical trials before being approved by the relevant drug regulatory bodies. These are important facts about clinical trials:

1- All clinical trials are voluntary

Although participation in a clinical trial in the treatment of terminal diseases like mesothelioma is highly advisable it is not mandatory that you take part in them. You always have the right to choose whether or not you will take part in a clinical trial. The level of care you get should not be affected by your decision. And you have the right to leave a clinical trial at any time, for any reason. If you decide to leave, your health care team may ask that you agree to continue to be watched for a certain length of time to look for any long-term effects of treatment.

2- Not all clinical trials study treatments

Not all clinical trials are about the study of new treatments, many clinical trials study new ways to detect, diagnose, or learn the extent of disease. Some even look at ways to prevent the disease from happening in the first place.

3- Even among clinical trials that do study treatments, not all of them study drugs

Many clinical trials test other forms of treatment, such as new surgery or radiation therapy techniques, or even complementary or alternative medicines or techniques.

4- Not all clinical trails study new treatment methods

Some clinical trials are about the study of already approved drugs. Even after a drug has been approved for use against a type of cancer, doctors sometimes find it works better when given a certain way or when combined with other treatments. It may even work on a different cancer. Clinical trials are needed to study these possibilities as well.

5- Mesothelioma cancer clinical trials do not usually involve the use of a placebo

A placebo is an inactive ingredient or pill used in some types of clinical trials to help make sure results are unbiased. A placebo is sometimes called a "sugar pill." Over the years, doctors have observed that some people begin to feel better even if they just think they're being treated. Although this effect tends to be brief, and does not really affect a cancer, it can make a new treatment seem to help. The possibility of getting a placebo keeps people from knowing if they are getting the treatment being studied or not, which makes the results more likely to be valid.

Placebos are rarely used alone in cancer research unless no known effective treatments exist. It's certainly not ethical to have someone take a placebo if an effective standard treatment is already available especially in the case of a grave disease like mesothelioma cancer. When cancer clinical trials compare treatments, they compare the new treatment against the current standard treatment. At times, a study may be designed so that patients may not be told which one they are getting, but they know they are at least getting treatment that meets the current standard of care.

In some clinical trials, the doctors want to learn if adding a new drug to the standard therapy makes it work better. In these studies, some patients get the standard drug(s) and a new one, while other patients get the standard drug(s) and a placebo. But none of the patients would get only a placebo. Everyone gets standard treatment if there is a standard treatment available.

Bello kamorudeen. http://www.mesotheliomacancer.blogspot.com