UHCMC researchers to present data on patient and physician barriers to clinical trials

Researchers from University Hospitals Case Medical Center's (UHCMC) Seidman Cancer Center will present findings from two studies evaluating new technologies designed to address common barriers to patient enrollment in clinical trials. Results from a large-scale, randomized trial demonstrated that the use of tailored, web-based videos delivering educational information to patients before an oncologist visit can significantly improve knowledge and reduce attitudinal barriers that impact enrollment in clinical trials. A second, preliminary study showed that a new automated technology created by UHCMC researchers helped oncologists identify clinical trials for individual patients in a busy outpatient oncology clinic.

"Although clinical trials are the key to developing new, better cancer treatments, less than 10 percent of cancer patients participate in them," says Neal J. Meropol, MD, study author, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at UHCMC and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and member-elect of the ASCO Board of Directors. "We know there are multiple barriers to clinical trials for both patients and oncologists, and the new technologies being evaluated at University Hospitals Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center are designed to break down those obstacles by providing individualized education for patients and new technology to help oncologists efficiently identify appropriate trials for their patients."

Common barriers to patient enrollment in clinical trials include fear of side effects, receiving placebo instead of treatment, financial concerns and the misperception that clinical trials should only be considered as a "last resort" option. For oncologists, a common obstacle is the time needed to help identify appropriate clinical trials - thousands of which are currently in progress across the country - for their patients. At the UHCMC Seidman Cancer Center, there are currently more than 300 ongoing clinical trials focused on cancer.