The new arrangement will allow Southern Oregon cancer patients to have experimental treatments without traveling to Portland or some other major research center. Hawkins will gather the laboratory results from local patients and forward them to researchers in Portland. Clinical trials have provided many of the most exciting breakthroughs in cancer treatment, says Dr. Grover Bagby, medical director of the Oregon Cancer Center. But they require highly motivated patients who have the discipline to follow a rigorous schedule. There may be a blood count 10 days later, and another test 30 days after that.
Patients have to be motivated.
Data managers have to make sure patients will go along with them. Researchers design each clinical trial to study how a new treatment affects a specific kind of cancer. Most trials require that patients have not had radiation or chemotherapy. Some are specifically limited to a particular stage in the cancer s development. Patients will be invited to participate if they meet a study s specific criteria.