Am I Human, Or Am I A Lab Rat?

Why fix something that isn't broken? Well, maybe there's a better fix.

I was just scanning a few sites looking for neuroendocrine cancer clinical trials — especially ones that might apply to me. I found two at Stanford Cancer Institute, although only one is looking for recruits.

In the fourteen months since I was first diagnosed with carcinoid cancer I've gone through two surgeries and regular injections of Sandostatin treatment. It seems I've come through with flying colors after my last Octreotide scan showed no new cancer progression.

So, if everything is working fine, why look for a different fix? Call it the spirit of medical adventure. Or maybe I just don't want to be left out of something really cool. But maybe there's a better cure just on the horizon.

My oncologist, Dr. Alex Metzger at the Marin Cancer Institute, urged me early on to look into a clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. I didn't want to keep going back and forth to Los Angeles for treatments at Cedars, but I'm left wondering about trials.

Anyway, the one clinical trial at Stanford still recruiting is trying to determine whether monthly injections of Somatuline Depot are effective and safe in controlling certain symptoms in patients with carcinoid syndrome.

So, this seems like it wouldn't be a change in treatment, but rather a supplement to any treatment in order to improve the quality of life.

There are a great number of clinical trials through Stanford and other universities and hospitals — including research into treatment for breast cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer and even eye cancer.

There's always some controversy over drug companies sponsoring trials — and this is likely no exception — but this is how the business of medicine gets done. New therapies have to be tested on humans eventually, I guess, and drug companies are generally asked to pay for the cost of trials. As long as there's no violation of the patient's trust, perhaps that's fine.

Before entering into a clinical trial, check with your doctors to make sure it's a good idea and, if you can, find out the details behind the trial.

For more information on cancer and carcinoid cancer, consider these sites:

Carcinoid Cancer Foundation

Caring for Carcinoid Foundation

Carcinoid Cancer Awareness Network

Carcinoid.com

Stanford Medicine Cancer Institute

Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles

Marin Cancer Institute

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Jimmy V Foundation

American Cancer Society