If you have cancer, you might be thinking about participating in a clinical trial. If standard cancer treatments are not working for you, a clinical trial is a lifeline that gives you access to the latest treatments in development not yet available to others.
What is a Clinical Trial?
Clinical trials are scientific studies conducted in patient volunteers that help physicians determine if a new cancer treatment is safe and effective. For cancer treatment to improve, it’s critical to test new treatments to determine if they work better than the current ones. In addition to testing brand new therapies, clinical trials explore new ways to use existing cancer treatments including surgical techniques, radiation and medical devices.
What Cancer Clinical Trials are Available in Arkansas?
As a patient of the UAMS Baptist Health Cancer Clinic-LR, you have access to hundreds of cancer clinical trials currently underway at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Arkansas’ leading cancer research and treatment center. Your oncologist has the support of the Institute’s 60-member Cancer Clinical Trials Office that oversees more than 300 active trials. This team maintains close contact with your cancer care team about the clinical trials you may be eligible for.
Led by UAMS physician scientists, many of these clinical trials are national studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and other leading national cancer research networks.
Patients from all of Arkansas’ 75 counties and 28 states outside of Arkansas are enrolled in a cancer clinical trial at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
3 Reasons to Join a Clinical Trial
- When you take part in a clinical trial, you gain access to the latest treatments in development that are not yet available to others. Clinical trials are based on the best knowledge available for your kind of cancer.
- Patients in clinical trials get high quality care. You will be carefully monitored throughout the study. Our physicians and nurses put your safety and well-being first.
- When you take part in a clinical trial, you add to the world’s knowledge about cancer and help to improve cancer care for future generations. What physicians learn from you during the trial will help other people with cancer down the road.
Talk to your oncologist at the UAMS Baptist Health Cancer Clinic-Little Rock about cancer clinical trials available to you. To learn more, go to cancer.uams.edu/clinical-trial/