Clinical Research

Overview

Clinical research is research that either directly involves a particular person or group of people, or studies information about them, such as their behavior. The goal of clinical research in cancer is to develop more effective strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Clinical research can be divided into the following categories: Patient-oriented research (clinical trials); Epidemiological and behavioral studies. (See the section on epidemiology)

It is important to understand this component of cancer research because in clinical research, new interventions move from the lab bench into use in the clinic, completing the bench-to-bedside translational model. If you have not already read the basic explanation of Clinical Trials in our recently diagnosed/treatment section, please do so now, then come back to this section.

Using our arrow image, you can see we are now at the primary intersection with human patients. All of the work completed in basic and translational research is tested here.

 

In this section we will discuss:

• Clinical Research Personnel
• Clinical Trial Background Issues
• Clinical Trial Phases for Cytotoxic Therapies
• Clinical Trial Phases for Targeted Therapy
• Other Types of Clinical Trials
• Ethical Issue
• Who conducts Clinical Trials?