Clinical Trial Advice

[crazylife]

For those in clinical trials, did you guys solely rely on your doctor to find you one or did you do your own research? DH wants to rely solely on MSK and I am all for trying to research on our own. NCI contacted us to get info and he is hesitant to fill out the paperwork.

[Lee]

Maia and DK37 have created somethings where people can get info on clinical trials. There is a thread, I believe that goes into more detail on it. Also if you go to one of Maia posts, her signature line has some info regard trials.

Check DK37 sticky, he has a lot of info on trials

Good luck

Lee

Here it is Clinical Trial Finder

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57950

[Rob in PA]

Short answer....No, i didnt' rely solely on one doctor to research trials for me.

Here's what I had.... 2 oncologists (1 local, and one in the major city where i had all my surgeries) were looking at trials for me. Also, at my local cancer center, we had what was called a "clinical trial manager" who was at patients' disposal to research clinical trials. Also, the NCI can assign (at least they did 8 years ago when I needed it) a manager to you to help you personally sift through trials to present back to you doctor as potential options.

I participated in 3 trials during my long tenure at fighting the big C. All three happened via different avenues, not just because of one doctor.

Hope this helps!

Rob

[ACPdiddy]

MSK is great, but they only have a small fraction of the interesting trials available. And the best ones at MSK may not have space for you when you really need it.
If you have the time and energy, be proactive. Use every resource at your disposal. Trial managers, online trial finders, etc.
You will almost certainly get better results than just going with what one doctor at one center says, even if it is an awesome doc at an awesome place.