Cancer Patients, Adolescent Consent to Research

Celia B. Fisher & Carolyn E. Brokowski

Most children with cancer enroll in clinical trials. These trials are most often sponsored by the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Children's Oncology Group (COG). Entry into clinical trials is important to pediatric cancer patients because of the devastating and life-threatening nature of the disease and the lack of curative treatments. Many parents and oncologists enroll their children in clinical trials to receive the best state-of-the-art care, to possibly benefit from the experimental treatment, and to help generate knowledge that may produce effective treatments in the future. There are three types of clinical trials. Phase I trials evaluate safety, toxicity, and dosage level of a drug that has not been previously tested with children. Once a dosage level has been established, Phase II trials test its efficacy for specific types of cancer and evaluate its safety in a larger population. Phase III trials compare treatments that have proven efficacious in Phase ...

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