Centra, Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center

Clinical Trials

Centra and the Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center are proud to partner with Lynchburg Hematology/Oncology Associates Clinic in offering our patients the opportunity to participate in cancer research studies, or clinical trials. If you are eligible to participate in a trial being held at Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center, you can continue to receive your care right here in your community. Clinical trials also broaden the treatment options for patients.

What is Clinical Research?

The goal of this research is to find better ways to treat cancer and help cancer patients. Clinical trials test many types of treatment such as new drugs, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combination of treatments, or new methods such as gene therapy analysis to determine appropriate cancer treatments for the individual. Some of our studies also look at ways to prevent certain cancers. Other studies look at way to manage symptoms and side effects of cancer and cancer treatment.

Clinical trials are a critical part of the research process. They help to move basic scientific research from the laboratory into treatments for people. By evaluating the results of these trials, we can find better treatments and ways to prevent, detect, and treat cancer.

Benefits

As a cancer patient in a clinical trial, you will get up-to-date care from our cancer experts whether you choose to be on a trial or not. Federal Regulations stipulate that as a clinical trial participant that you will always receive the best available known standard treatment for your cancer. One of the benefits noticed by clinical trial patients is that they have extra "eyes" in the form of the clinical research team watching over them during and after their treatments. Another benefit is that researchers are always looking for better tests and treatments for cancer. You may be able to receive one of these new tests or treatments along with the current standard of care and be the first to benefit from them. In some cases patients may receive a test of treatment for a condition that current has no best effective standard test or treatment. Sometimes the new test or treatment is free to participants. It is important to remember there is no guarantee that a new treatment being tested or a standard treatment will produce good results. New treatments also may have unknown risks. But if a new treatment proves effective or more effective than standard treatment, study patients who receive it may be among the first to benefit.

Safety

Your well-being is important to us. To help protect patients and produce sound results, research with people is carried out according to strict scientific and ethical principles including those outlined in the Federal Code of Regulations related to clinical trials.  Our clinical trials have gone through a very strict protocol approval process. Locally, the internal Centra Institutional Review Board, or IRB, which includes doctors, nurses, and lay people from the community, carefully reviews every study before any patient is enrolled and at mandated times throughout the life of the study. The research team consisting of the medical monitors, principal investigator, your oncologist, advance practice research nurse and others helps ensure our patients' safety.

What to Expect

Our team of cancer specialists and nurses, as well as other health professionals, will follow your progress closely. You may have more tests and doctor visits than you would if you were not taking part in a study. You will follow a treatment plan your doctor prescribes, and you may also have other responsibilities such as keeping a log or filling out forms. Most studies require that patients be checked on at regular time points even after their treatment is over.  This is often the case for all cancer patients and is necessary for long term follow up of disease status and treatment effects.

As a participant in a clinical trial, you can help not only yourself but future cancer patients. Your participation in a clinical trial is most important because we know that the information gathered will benefit future cancer patients. In fact, many of the treatments cancer patients benefit from today are a result of previous clinical trials.

For more information call our clinical trials coordinator, Donna Washburn, at 434.200.1495

Optionally you may contact our office at 434.200.5925 or via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .