How do you find clinical trials for cancer treatment?

I just found out today that my father has lung cancer. The actual diagnosis has not yet been made, but by the time his testing is complete next week, he has no doubt that that will be the diagnosis. Given his symptoms and early test results, we are all fearful for a poor prognosis.

I remember hearing that it's challenging to find out about clinical trials, but there are ways to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

(Note: my parents live in the mid-Atlantic area)

type in the name of your cancer (examples are "bladder cancer," "oligodendrocytoma") and "clinical trials" in the search box. If there are any trials out there, that will locate them for you.

or the Mayo clinic perhaps? I'm not sure, but here in the Pacific NW I'd start with the UW medical center. It is difficult, but don't panic, or rather get through the panic as soon as possible, if you can, as you can. But best wishes. Kick and good luck to you all.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/

and type in the type of cancer. You can then hunt by State and find trials that fit. Also if your father is diagnosed with cancer, and I truly hope the news is good, ask the doctors. Especially oncologists, they will know the types of trials that will fit the diagnosis and which are in the area.

There is some excellent movement around for lung cancer now, slowly but surely there are improvements in the treatments options.

Best of luck to all of you.

and in the mid-Atlantic, you might want to look at Johns Hopkins and Duke for what they have to offer.

I'm just kind of stunned right now and doing research to be prepared. Thank you as well for the kind wishes. My dad is the first person I call to discuss the issues that matter to DUers. I can't even bear to think about him being this sick.

and as health care providers. Please let us know how you are doing, how he is doing, how the family is doing and what would help.

I did research on every lymphoma trial in the US and world. All of my bother's doctors had never heard of any of them. And this was at ZmD Anderson in Houston. One trial was being conducted right next door to MD Anderson at the Baylor College of Medicine but MD Anderson's doctors didn't even know what was going on in the building next to them. The Baylor trail was a phase III trial where they used my brother's blood to produce a vaccine that targeted just my brother's cancerous cells. Unfortunately it takes 4 months to produce the vaccine and my brother was in an advanced stage of the cancer. If the doctors at MD Anderson had bothered to just read about other trials, like the one 100 feet away from them my brother might still be alive. I found a lot of the doctors there to be pompous and aloof and they didn't want a layman knowing more than they knew.

I even did research on medications and MD Anderson doctors hadn't even thought about using some of the drugs I proposed. In a huge caregiver meeting with all my brother's doctors, nurses and researchers I told them about two drugs specifically and the were prescribed on the spot. Some of the doctors wondered why my brother's primary doctor wasn't giving my brother that medication.

I'm telling you this because you HAVE to be proactive and NOT let your doctors Get away with being anything but the best. You need to be a good advocate for your dad because a lot of doctors don't do all they can do for whatever reason. Always question them and make sure they are doing the right thing. I put way too much trust in my brother's doctors at first but then realized they had their own selfish motives and THEIR OWN TRIALS they were conducting so they had a reason NOT to even look beyond the walls of their own hospital.

PM me anytime if you'd like. I'd be happy to share anything I know with you. There have been huge advancements in vaccine therapy in the past 8 years so that is one area you might want to research first. Vaccine therapy is not radical like chemos are. But most doctors automatically use chemotherapy instead of considering all the other options available.

I wish you and your dad well!!!

you have to do your own research and work with the doctors. Don't expect them to have all the right answers, and be willing to question them.

:thumbsup: excellent advice

I 'tried' to work with the doctors, but they are inept at thinking out of the box. Not one of them knew of the other studies. That was alarming to me. One of my brother's doctors was going to get a biopsy by cutting through his abdomen to get to a place by the spine. I told him like hell you are. Then I went to see another doctor and they ended up getting the biopsy with a simple injection through the back. Had that quack doctor cut my brother's stomach open 8 inches like he planned it would have caused my brother great harm.

I ended up telling my brother's primary doctor that "anyone could stagger into this hospital and prescribe chemo". I was right, but the doctor "Andre Goy" didn't like what I said. He prescribed five different chemo treatments but when I told him about the NON invasive vaccine therapy he said it was experimental. Hell, every chemo treatment he used was 'experimental' and he even used my brother as part of one of his own clinic trials that did not work. And the bad thing about having too many different chemos is that the more you have the less options you have with other trials being conducted around the country or the world. Most would not admit anyone if they had more than one chemo treatment. Some would reject a patient if they had even one chemo treatment.

MD Anderson Hospital is supposed to be one of the best cancer hospitals, but that is nothing but hype. They spend millions in ads to build up their reputation. They get their reputation with money and not with performance.

DO NOT go to MD Anderson EVER. I've encountered too many quacks there. And I documented everything they did to my brother. If you don't stay on top of doctors they will do damned near anything.