Clinical Trials
Clinical Trials - Research at Peter Mac
| Clinical research is the foundation upon which clinical medicine is practised; it is the source of new approaches to difficult management issues and delivers state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment options. There are over 100 clinical trials conducted at Peter Mac each year. Some of these trials are conducted in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry and others are clinician-initiated. A large number are performed through national and international collaborative groups. | |||||||||||||||||
| Follow the links below to read information about our Clinical Trials which are included with the relevant Clinical Research Groups. | |||||||||||||||||
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Clinical trials improve not only the outcomes of patients in these trials but also the outcomes of those patients not directly involved. This phenomenon occurs because involvement of clinical staff in trials requires an understanding of current best practice, a rigour in assessing new approaches, and close monitoring for side-effects backed up by strong supportive care initiatives. Through ongoing clinical trials at Peter Mac, we aim to provide patients with new and better treatment options by participating in cutting-edge research studies. Through these trials and protocols we aim to improve the length and quality of life of our patients and better understand the complex disease we call cancer. We also aim to feed this information back to laboratory research and then translate any new findings back into clinical trials. This cycle of ‘translational research’ is an important strength at Peter Mac – related to the integrated research environment within the dedicated specialist cancer hospital, and the important platform technologies that have been developed at the Centre. The trials performed at Peter Mac frequently involve new drug treatments but equally may examine new approaches to surgery, radiotherapy, supportive care, pain control or ways of imaging and staging tumours. Indeed, clinical research protocols are being carried out in many areas in the hospital, some of which may at first seem a surprise – from pharmacy to radiation oncology, from social work to pastoral care, and from psychology to pathology. |
