Increased clinical trial participation key to new breast cancer treatments

HOUSTON -- (October 3, 2008) -- One of the biggest obstacles in the search for new treatments for breast cancer is that not enough patients participate in clinical trials, say researchers at the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

"We are seeing great advances from clinical trials but progress is slowed when nationally less than 5 percent of cancer patients are enrolled in clinical trials," said Dr. Powel Brown, director of the cancer prevention program at the Smith Breast Center. "That means that 95 percent of cancer patients are not contributing to advances in new treatments and therapies."

New advances and new therapies are developed from the results physicians gather from clinical trials.

Patients who are a part of a clinical trial receive superb care, with physicians following strictly regulated study guidelines, said Brown. Many studies compare standard treatment with what could be a newer, more superior treatment.

"Simply asking your physician if there are studies you could be a part of could help increase enrollment," said Brown, also associate director of cancer prevention programs at the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM.

The Smith Breast Center at the Baylor Clinic offers studies to virtually any patient with any kind type of breast cancer from metastatic breast cancer to early stage or noninvasive breast cancer, and even for patients who don't have breast cancer but are at an increased risk, said Brown.

For more information on clinical trials at Baylor College of Medicine, visit http://www.bcm.edu/clinicalstudies/.