How to Find Clinical Trials to Treat Your Type of Cancer

If you’re interested in finding a clinical trial aimed at treating your type of cancer, it’s important to bring it up with your oncology team. Otherwise, they may not even realize you are interested in participating in a trial.

“Just to relay that question is the critical first step in opening up that dialogue,” explains June Y. Hou, MD, Gynecologic Oncologist at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center.

How do you find clinical trials that are right for you?

Start with your oncology team. They can look into whether there are good clinical trials that treat your type of cancer. You don’t need your doctor’s referral to participate in a trial, but they are often a great resource for finding clinical trials.

You can also do research yourself. There are free, accessible websites such as Cancer.gov and ClinicalTrials.gov where you can search for clinical trials.

You can search for clinical trials according to different criteria, including:

• The type of cancer

• The type of treatment

• The stage of cancer

• The geographic location of the trial

How do you know if you’re eligible for a clinical trial?

Once you’ve found some trials that may fit your needs, discuss what you’ve found with your oncology team to make sure you’re a good fit for the trial.

“Each trial will have their own set of eligibility criteria, and that is why it can sometimes be extremely confusing,” says Hou. “After doing some of your own research, go back to the primary oncologist…to review those eligibility criteria specifically and tailor the right clinical trial that is the right fit for you.”

The research team from the clinical trial will also ask you questions, review your medical records and ask you to complete some lab tests to see if you qualify for the trial.

If you have any questions about any aspects of the clinical trials, you should reach out to the research team that’s conducting the trial.

“They may be able to better answer your questions,” says Hou.