At any point on your cancer journey you may be asked to take part in a clinical trial. You and your family may have very mixed feelings about what this means. Choosing to take part in a clinical trial is an important decision for you and your family to make, so take some time to think about it and make sure that you have all the information to help you decide.
Clinical trials or clinical studies are carried out to test new ways to treat prostate cancer. Men who have volunteered to take part in a clinical trial for prostate cancer may be involved in testing new treatments or existing treatments in combination e.g. a different way of giving treatment, before these are approved for wider use with other men.
However, being part of a clinical trial doesn’t always mean that you get the new treatment. You may find that you are randomly chosen to be a part of the ‘control group’ to compare the standard treatment with the new treatment. Even if you are part of the ‘control group’ you will still have the standard treatment but with the added advantage of two specialist teams looking after your care.
Trials are usually broken down into 2 parts; the first part being an explanation of what the trial is testing and what will happen during trial. At this point, if you agree to take part, you will have to sign a consent form. Part 2 of the trial is the research team keeping you up-to-date on what is happening with the trial. For Further information please see the Clinical trials and New Therapies Explained booklet.
What happens if I change my mind?
Even though you have signed the informed consent form you can change your mind and pull out of the trial whenever you want – before the trial starts, during the trial or during the follow up time. If you want to pull out during the trial, make sure you ask the research team how you do this e.g. if it was a new drug trial if you can stop the drug straight away.