Hodgkin's Disease: Clinical Trials

CLINICAL TRIALS
CancerTrials DATABASE

What is a clinical trial?

Clinical trials are research studies in which people help doctors find ways to improve health and cancer care. Each study tries to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat cancer.

A clinical trial is one of the final stages of a long and careful cancer research process. Studies are done with cancer patients to find out whether promising approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are safe and effective.

What are the different types of clinical trials?

Treatment trials test new treatments (like a new cancer drug, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combinations of treatments, or new methods such as gene therapy). See Taking Part in Clinical Trials:What Cancer Patients Need to Know.

Prevention trials test new approaches, such as medicines, vitamins, minerals, or other supplements that doctors believe may lower the risk of a certain type of cancer. These trials look for the best way to prevent cancer in people who have never had cancer or to prevent cancer from coming back or a new cancer occuring in people who have already had cancer. See Understanding Prevention Trials for additional information.

Screening trials test the best way to find cancer, especially in its early stages. See Understanding Screening Trials for additional information.

Quality of Life trials (also called Supportive Care trials) explore ways to improve comfort and quality of life for cancer patients. See Understanding Supportive Care Trials for additional information.

Where is the best place to search for clinical trials?

One of the best places to find specific trials is PDQ ®, the NCI's comprehensive cancer trials database. PDQ User's Guide will help you with suggestions for using the information you retrieve as well as resources for searching beyond PDQ.