Clinical Trial

Artferret said:

Hi Tracey_B
I'm currently part of 2 medical trials, one through Peter Mac and the other through Australian Catholic Uni. Both were suggested to me by my surgeon. The Peter Mac one is the EXPERT trial which is for early breast cancer hormone positive people and is wanting to determine whether radiation is necessary for this group. You get randomized into one of two groups, rads plus hormone therapy or hormone therapy only. I got placed in the hormone only group. In the first year you are checked over at 3, 6 and 12 months by your study doctor which for me is my surgeon and you fill in a questionnaire each time. After that it's every 12 months and the questionnaires last for 5 years. It's  a 10 year trial. I gather i just have the yearly mammogram which for me will be in July even though the one year mark for the trial is end of October. I'll have to ask that when i have the 6 month review end of this month.
The other one is called Ex-med cancer exercise trial and is being run by Prof Prue Cormie at ACU and is open to anyone who has had any cancer, any stage. You must have finished chemo or rads, so you are eligible for the first year after finishing your treatment. Being on hormone therapy is ok. This one is wanting to determine whether moderate to vigorous exercise helps in decreasing the recurrance rates of cancer...any cancer. It's  a 3 month gym program overseen by an exercise physiologist. The program is developed around what you want to achieve so for me i wanted more cardio and weight bearing.The catch is it's only available in Melbourne. It doesn't cost you anything. You may be eligible for this. Check with your doc when you're at Peter Mac. I'm just about finished (Friday week) and it is the best thing i have ever done. I feel so much fitter and i feel like i have control back in my life again. The next one for this year starts in May or June i think.
Trials are a good idea but you have to be totally comfortable with what's involved and know that it's going to be of benefit to you. Like with the EXPERT trial i had to know that i was totally comfortable with the idea of being in the hormone only grp because if i couldn't be there was no point being part of the trial as there is a small risk of it having a higher rate of recurrance but i figured on the remote chance of that happening i still had rads up my sleeve. Also you can back out at any time. I was also part of a very small trial just before surgery with a drug called propranalol (i think!) which is a beta blocker and is designed to calm you down blood pressure wise. Whether i had the placebo or not i don't know but i have to admit my BP did stay fairly steady albeit high as i was already stressing out major! Can't remember how long that one was running for. 5 years is ringing a bell. Hope all this has helped. Cath xx