Scientists are constantly learning more about cancer and how to treat it through research. Patients are often invited to take part in clinical trials to help with research.

There are different types of clinical trials

  • observational trials, where patients are observed to find out what happens in different situations. This may involve for example, check-ups with your doctor, questionaires or blood sampling
  • interventional trials, where different types of treatment are researched for example, surgical, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Interventional clinical trials are used to test how well a new treatment works

Interventional clinical trials are designed to understand

  • whether new treatments work better than standard treatments
  • whether different combinations of drugs work better
  • what side effects of treatments patients experience

Early phase clinical trials using the newest of treatments are carried out locally at Newcastle in the Sir Bobby Robson Clinical trials unit. These trials are generally used when patients have recieved other treatment options available to them.

You may wish to ask your cancer doctor or specialist nurse if there are any clinical trials that would be suitable for you to take part in.

Click here to watch a video from a member of our cancer research team 
 

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