• See current brain tumours trials

Cancer research trials are carried out to try to find new and better treatments for cancer. Trials that are carried out on patients are known as clinical trials.

Clinical trials may be carried out to:

• test new treatments, such as new chemotherapy drugs, gene therapy or cancer vaccines
• look at new combinations of existing treatments, or change the way they are given, to make them more effective or to reduce side effects
• compare the effectiveness of drugs used to control symptoms
• find out how cancer treatments work
• see which treatments are the most cost-effective.

Trials are the only reliable way to find out if a different operation, type of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or other treatment is better than what is already available.

Taking part in a trial

You may be asked to take part in a clinical trial. There can be many benefits in doing this. Trials help to improve knowledge about cancer and develop new treatments. You will also be carefully monitored during and after the study. Usually, several hospitals around the country take part in these trials. It is important to bear in mind that some treatments that look promising at first are often later found not to be as good as existing treatments, or to have side effects that outweigh the benefits.

If you decide not to take part in a trial your decision will be respected and you do not have to give a reason. There will be no change in the way that you are treated by the hospital staff and you will be offered the standard treatment for your situation.

Blood and tumour samples

Many blood samples and bone marrow or tumour biopsies may be taken to find out what is wrong with you. You may be asked for your permission to use some of your samples for research into cancer. Some samples may be frozen and stored for future use, when new research techniques become available.

The research may be carried out at the hospital where you are treated, or it may be at another hospital. This type of research takes a long time, so you are unlikely to hear the results. The samples will, however, be used to increase knowledge about the causes of cancer and its treatment. This research will, hopefully, improve the outlook for future patients.

Current research

If you have a glioma that has come back (recurred) after initial treatment, you may be asked to take part in a trial that is comparing two different chemotherapy treatments. These are temozolomide (Temodol®), and the chemotherapy combination PCV, which is made up of the drugs procarbazine, lomustine (CCNU) and vincristine. Both of the treatments are sometimes used to treat a recurrent glioma. The trial is trying to find out which treatment is better when a glioma comes back.

A trial for people with a gliobastoma multiforme (GBM) is comparing a new drug called TransMID with a number of different chemotherapy treatments. TransMID contains a chemical called transferrin, which attaches to the cancer cells, and another called diphtheria toxin, which kills the cancer cells. TransMID is put into the brain tumour through special tubes (catheters) that are placed into the brain through a burr hole.

If you have a pituitary tumour, an anaplastic astrocytoma or a glioblastoma, and your tumour is newly diagnosed, you may be asked to take part in a trial using a treatment known as photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT involves a laser light and a drug called a photosensitiser that makes cells more sensitive to light. When the laser light is shone on the sensitised cancer cells it kills them. PDT is a new treatment that is still being tested as a treatment for a few different types of cancer. In the trial, PDT is being given alongside surgery and radiotherapy.