Clinical Trials

[Gypsy1946]

Hi again well my husband had the bone biopsy yesterday,he said it was not the greatest however went through with it, we were there for approx.4 hours, he said they had to keep putting different size needles in as the bone was crumbling a lot and they could not get a proper sample, so has a decent size hole in his shoulder,we don't know the results as they send them to the Specialists and Oncologist.So will have to wait till next week. By the way does anyone know about Clinical Trials, as he was offered the option to take part in one, when we saw the Oncologist last week, we were given a great wad of reading material to take home and read however as it is written in medical jargon it is hard to understand,what type of questions should we ask, how will it affect his regular chemo etc etc..if anyone has the answers could they respond please as we have to ring them to say if he is going ahead with it. Thanks everyone for all your kind responses so far, and our thoughts are with you all in your own journeys. Jill and Les

[StressedOut]

Hi Gypsy I'm also interested in finding more info about Clinical Trials if anyone knows anything? This is for stage 4 lung cancer spread to the lymph nodes. Thanks Caitlin

[Sailor]

Hi Gypsy 1946 Clinical trials are good things as you get to have a chance of the best practice therapy or the new agents. You also get looked after extremely well as you have to be so closely monitored. What happens is that ir order to find out of the new agent is better than existing best practice, patients are randomly selected to have either the best existing treatment or the new treatment. So they have to monitor everyone as if they had the new therapy. Neither the treating specialists or the patient know which they are getting, which is why they are called double blind randomised trials. It is a worry that the patient information is not readable and you should go back to the clinician and ask for it all to be explained to you. There is good information about clinical trials on the Cancer Council websites. There is also the Australian Cancer trials website http://www.australiancancertrials.gov.au/. Good luck with it Sailor The art of the sailor is to leave nothing to chance. Annie Van De Wiele

[StressedOut]

Hi Sailor Thanks very much for your reply. I went to the hospital with him yesterday for his chemo. I found out that he is actually already on a clinical trial! He wasn't even aware of it! It's called the Nitro trial. He is in the group that isn't being given Nitro unfortunately, just the chemo, but he is being monitored very closely and fills out a questionaire every time he receives the chemo I think. He has stage 4 small cell lung cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes from my understanding. He's been given 8 months if the treatment doesn't go well and around 12 if it does. Thanks again Caitlin

[Sailor]

Hi Stressed Out I am a bit surprised by your response. You should know if you are on a clinical trial and should have sign a consent form after receiving patient information and having it discussed with you. I looked up the NITRO trial and it does say it is randomised but not that it is double blind. However, it is very unusual not to have a double blind trial, so I again am surprised that you know whether or not your partner is having the nitroglycerine. Lung cancer is an awful disease that until recently was not getting much research attention. That is changing, but unfortunately that is for patients in the future. Do make sure you look after yourself. As a carer it is easy to focus so much on the person with the cancer that you neglect yourself. In the months ahead you are going to be needed a lot more. Regards Sailor

[StressedOut]

Hi Sailor Thanks very much for your reply. I've only just met my relative, so had no idea about the clinical trial until I was actually at the hospital with him and enquired about clinical trials. I doubt very much that he would have been put on one without his permission, so it most have slipped his mind with everything else he's having to deal with. Yes, I understood that the patient doesn't get told if they are the control group or not, but we were told he's in the group not receiving the Nitro, which is disappointing. Lung cancer is horrible and unfortunately in his case, preventable. He's still smoking and drinking. He's talked about trying to quit the smoking. I really worry about this and the effect it could have on his prognosis. Thanks for your support. Caitlin