Northern Westchester Hospital Currently Conducting Several Cancer Clinical Trials
Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) in Mt. Kisco, NY, is currently conducting about a dozen clinical trials for cancer, offering patients access to expanded treatment options. Studies that the hospital participates in include open clinical trials for breast, ovary, colon, rectal, kidney, lung, and prostate cancers, with more planned.
A cancer clinical trial is a study done in patients to find out whether promising approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are safe and effective. These trials are part of a long and careful cancer research process designed to try to improve the outcome of these patients. The results of clinical trials can bring about new treatments and new diagnostic tests that can improve health and prolong lives. To enter a trial, each prospective participant needs to meet specific medical eligibility requirements.
NWH's clinical trials for cancer are sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, the governmental agency that coordinates the nation's research program on cancer, as well as pharmaceutical companies who are trying to bring their drugs to market. The Hospital, which began conducting clinical trials in 2005 with the opening of its Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, offers treatment trials which test new cancer drugs, especially targeted therapies, that may not be on the market yet, new approaches to radiation therapy including stereotactic body radiosurgery, as well as new combinations of established treatments.
"One of the most important advances in oncology is the expanded availability of clinical trials in high quality community hospitals such as ours," said Dr. Jonathan Goldberg, NWH's Medical Director of Clinical Trials. "Only about five percent of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials and one reason is that many people do not want to have to deal with the large academic cancer centers where previously one had to go to participate in a clinical trial. With the availability of many of the same clinical trials here in our own community, patients can more easily participate, helping to bring about advances in cancer therapy sooner."
NWH's cancer program has been accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer for more than 20 years, and the Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center is an approved Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program.
To learn more about NWH's clinical trials for cancer, contact the Hospital's Clinical Trials Coordinator Debora Goldman Isdale at (914) 666-1366 or dgoldman@nwhc.net .
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