When diagnosed with mesothelioma, there are different treatment options that you can choose, which are largely based on how advanced the disease is and where it is located in the body. Some people with mesothelioma may be eligible and may wish to participate in clinical trials for the treatment of the disease.

Before one decides to participate in a clinical trial, it is wise to discover what is involved in the trial and whether or not your doctor and family feels that it is a viable option. Some of the things that you should ask your doctor are:

– Which treatments are used in the trial?
– What are the differences in this treatment and conventional treatments?
– What side effects can be expected?
– Where are treatments given?
– What are the costs of the treatments?

It can make it easier to determine if a mesothelioma clinical trial is a good option for you once you have answers to these questions. You are the one who must make the decision, and a doctor cannot put you in a trial without your consent. Some of these treatments have benefits, while others may not be as effective. The treatment options are always manipulated to fit the particular patient in terms of the location and stage of the cancer and the patient’s age and general health.

A clinical trial is a medical research study that is controlled. Clinical trials are performed by researchers to determine the safety and efficacy of a treatment before it can achieve widespread use. Studies include radiation and surgical techniques, new drugs, biological therapies and vaccines, either alone or in a combination approach.

Clinical trials for mesothelioma are done in steps, or stages, each of which is used to answer certain questions about the specific treatment being done. In the first phase, researchers discover the best way to deliver the most effective drugs to the patient. Correct dosage amounts and methods of use(injection or mouth) are important issues. Researchers are also on the lookout for any serious side effects. Usually, only small numbers of people are used in a Phase I study.

In the second phase of a clinical trial, researchers determine how safe and effective the drug is and how it effects the person’s body. Since there are risks involved, these trials usually have less than 100 patients.

Phase III is used to determine which treatments have the greatest survival rates and which have fewer side effects. One group of participants will receive the normal treatment and another will receive the trial therapy. This usually involves hundreds of people in various places in the country.

Phase IV of the clinical trial is used to determine the long term safety and efficiency of the product used for treatments. This is usually done after the treatment has already been approved to be used in a standard setting. These are also known as post-marketing surveillance studies and there are often hundreds or thousands of patients involved.

While a clinical trial is not right for everyone, for some, a clinical trial can open up new doors to effective treatments for mesothelioma.

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Category: Cancer Survival
Keywords: asbestosis, asbestos exposure, asbestos lawsuit, asbestos lawyer, mesothelioma