When cancer runs in your family or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer, you may feel a pull to participate in cancer clinical research. If you decide to go down this path, there are several types of clinical trials for cancer patients. According to the video “Types of Cancer Clinical Trials,” treatment trials, prevention trials, screening trials, supportive and palliative care trials, and natural history studies. You can either do one specific type of trial like screening trials or you can try to do multiple types of trials to make the most of your participation in research.
Although cancer clinical research can feel scary as a participant, you should have the information you need from researchers to make an informed decision about participating. At any time, you should be able to withdraw your consent and ask questions about any part of the process. For those who have a family history of cancer without a current diagnosis, screening trials can be a way to make an impact on research. If you have an aggressive form of cancer, you may be eligible to participate in treatment trials to see if new forms of treatment help. Those who are terminally ill may benefit from supportive and palliative care trials to increase comfort as they transition toward end-of-life treatment.
