What are cancer clinical trials?

Cancer clinical trials are an important part of developing new tools to diagnose, treat and prevent cancers.  Most people think clinical trials are only for people with advanced cancer, but this is a myth.  Any time you or a loved one needs cancer treatments you could consider being part of a clinical trial to help the medical community add to our knowledge about cancer.

Many hospitals, universities and physician offices conduct trials.  If you'd like to see what's available in your area, visit http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search and complete the search form to find specific trials near your community.

If you are a cancer survivor and are interested in taking part in a simple, online clinical trial, visit http://onward.northwestern.edu or call 312.503.2922 to learn about Northwestern University's free online clinical trial for cancer survivors.

We often hear cancer patients, survivors and their family express the desire to do more to help fight cancer.  Clinical trials are an important way to do just that.