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Should I take part in a clinical trial?

Your treatment team may ask you or your parents if you want to take part in a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a study that tests new ways of helping cancer patients.

The majority of young cancer patients decide to enter into a clinical trial. Participation in these studies may offer the best chance of survival and is strongly recommended for most young cancer patients. Most young adults who have just been diagnosed with osteosarcoma are treated on a phase III trial. These trials are performed by such groups as the Children's Oncology Group (COG) in the United States, the German-Austrian-Swiss Cooperative Osteosarcoma Study Group (COSS), the European Osteosarcoma Intergroup (EOI), and the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG).

A clinical trial is only done when scientists believe that the treatment being studied may help patients. Researchers conduct studies of new treatments to answer the following questions:

• Is the treatment helpful?
• How does this new type of treatment work?
• Does it work better than other treatments already available?
• What side effects does the treatment cause?
• Are the side effects greater or less then the currently accepted or standard treatment?
• Do the benefits outweigh the side effects?
• In which patients is the treatment most likely to be helpful?

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