To participate in clinical trials, a patient first needs to work with their medical provider to determine which clinical trials are available to meet their specific needs and to find out if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Who Can Participate?
Adults can participate in a clinical trial if they meet the required eligibility criteria for a particular study.
Eligibility criteria are requirements to participate in a study that help make sure trial participants are similar in terms of specific factors.
These criteria often include:
- Age
- Newly diagnosed versus recurrent diagnosis
- Current and past treatment
- If imaging tests show there may be a brain tumor, a biopsy is usually done to confirm the diagnosis and determine what type of tumor it is. A biopsy is a piece of tumor tissue which is surgically removed in order to examine more closely.
Eligibility criteria help the researcher be confident that results of the study are related to the treatment being evaluated and not another factor.
Brain Tumor Clinical Trials
If you have just found out that you have a brain tumor or your tumor has recurred, research all the available treatment options – including clinical trials – before making any treatment decisions.