{"id":2454,"date":"2022-05-11T00:14:29","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T00:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/?p=2454"},"modified":"2024-06-04T17:07:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T17:07:01","slug":"what-participating-in-a-clinical-trial-is-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/urology\/what-participating-in-a-clinical-trial-is-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it Like to Participate in a Clinical Trial?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mark Perzely was diagnosed with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3253713\/#:~:text=Definition%20Small%20cell%20carcinoma%20of%20the%20bladder%20%28SCCB%29,generally%20believed%20to%20have%20a%20high%20metastatic%20potential.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Small Cell Carcinoma<\/a>&mdash;a rare and aggressive cancer which developed in his bladder, occurs in only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC8214727\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">0.5 to 0.7 percent of all bladder cancers<\/a> and has a median survival rate of 1.7 years. The cell growth rate for these cells is distinctly rapid. &ldquo;Once small-cell spreads, it won&rsquo;t stop, and there are no approved treatments,&rdquo; Mark announced in his testimonial. According to the journal of <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23266053\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clinical Genitourinary Cancer<\/a>, there are no standard guidelines for the disease either, which makes Mark&rsquo;s recovery even more impressive.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;padding-bottom: 40px\">\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"letter-spacing: -1px\">[Clinical trials are] a win-win situation if there are no other options available&hellip; or seems to be the best option.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Who benefits from clinical trials?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 35px\">Procedures and medications which undergo a clinical trial are beneficial because <em>the need<\/em> to address a disease that has no standard treatment <em>is imperative<\/em>. The results of the trial may lead to approved and administered treatments globally. Those patients who have a rare disease or late-stage cancer notably benefit because these treatments tend to be groundbreaking, resulting in the prolonging of one&rsquo;s life, similar to Mark&rsquo;s. <em>It is also critical that patients explore the trials available to them long before they become a last resort.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"padding-bottom: 35px\">Listen to Mark detail his prognosis and clinical trial experience<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is it like to participate in a clinical trial?\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IMyB5ud3rPY?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;padding-left: 10%;padding-right: 10%\" align=\"center\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;font-size: 14px;line-height: 14px;margin-top: 15px;color: #808080;padding-bottom: 25px!important\">Mark Perzley is interviewed by Saint John&rsquo;s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>What is a Neobladder?<\/h3>\n<p>Mark mentions in his testimonial he was given a neobladder constructed from parts of his intestine after his bladder was surgically removed. A <em>neobladder<\/em> is a pouch that connects to the urethra and ureters&mdash;tubes that allows liquid waste to pass out of the body from the kidneys. Mark&rsquo;s neobladder is still functioning 4 years later.<\/p>\n<h3>Principal Investigator<\/h3>\n<p>A principal investigator is the lead researcher or holds an independent grant, and oversees the integrity of a clinical trial or study.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/about-us\/people\/przemyslaw-w-twardowski\/\">Dr. Prezemyslay Twardowski<\/a> was the principal investigator for the trial Mark participated in. He has continued to treat Mark every two weeks with immunotherapy; keeping Mark recurrent free years after the trial ended. Because, &ldquo;there is no approved [treatment] for [small cell carcinoma] and still no approval for what I take. It is a rare occurrence,&rdquo; Mark has no other options of care for the disease he has, according to his own words. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/translational-research-departments\/immunology\/\"><em>how immunotherapy works<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>At Saint John&rsquo;s Cancer Institute, our lead investigators are also practicing physicians at the Health Center, which enhances our patient&rsquo;s care by applying research knowledge while in the clinic, thereby eliminating any separation between trials and ongoing care.<\/p>\n<h3>What is a placebo in a study?<\/h3>\n<p>A placebo usually comes in a pill or an injection and does not contain any medication. Placebos allow scientists to see how much of the medication&rsquo;s effect is due to the drug itself or from other factors.<\/p>\n<p>Mark made the clinical trial coordinators aware he did not want to be a part of a placebo.<\/p>\n<h3>How to qualify for a study\/trial?<\/h3>\n<p>According to Mark, to qualify for certain studies, &ldquo;drug companies want certain people.&rdquo; Clinical trials will have exclusion and inclusion qualifications, which frame essential data points. To search for a clinical trial, use the database <a href=\"https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clinicaltrials.gov<\/a>. All details about a trial will be listed there, including contact information.<\/p>\n<p>In order to begin the qualification process, patients will need to have a conversation with their primary care physician or oncologist. Similar to Mark&rsquo;s case, your physician may already be aware of a specific trial that may benefit you.<\/p>\n<p>If you have questions or would like to know about the clinical trials at Saint John&rsquo;s Cancer Institute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/clinical-trials\/\">click here to see our current trials<\/a>, or call our clinical trial information desk: 310-582-7448.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;padding-bottom: 40px\">\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"letter-spacing: -1px\">Transforming biomedical research and medicine into promising new treatments used clinically starts here at Saint John&rsquo;s Cancer Institute.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<h3>About the Media<\/h3>\n<h5>Saint John&rsquo;s Cancer Institute&rsquo;s Marketing &amp; Media Development<\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Perzely was diagnosed with Small Cell Carcinoma&mdash;a rare and aggressive cancer which developed in his bladder, occurs in only&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":2828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clinical-trials","category-urology"],"acf":{"doc_author":"0","header_scripts":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintjohnscancer.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}