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 Cancer
clinical trials have been conducted for over 25 years at Regional Cancer Care at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Many of these studies are
global and have resulted in major breakthroughs in the management of cancer.
It is through clinical research that improvements or advances are made in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer and other
diseases. Clinical trials could include:
- Prevention trials to test ways to stop disease from starting or returning. The focus of these trials may
include drugs, vitamins, minerals, natural health products, educational programs, and lifestyle or behavioural changes.
- Diagnostic trials to find better tests or procedures to help identify or find a specific disease or condition.
- Treatment trials to test treatments, drugs, combinations of drugs, medical devices, natural health products,
or new approaches to surgery or therapy.
- Quality of life trials to look at ways to improve comfort and the quality of life for people with a chronic
disease, disability or condition.
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Clinical research conducted at Regional Cancer Care incorporates studies offered through cooperative groups, pharmaceutical companies and some in-house
research. The cooperative groups offer studies that are among the foremost in research for cancer treatment, prevention and diagnosis. Groups such as
the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) or Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) often partner with cancer research leaders such as the Mayo
Clinic or MD Anderson, so patients participating in these studies at RCC have access to some of the most innovative and cutting edge treatments, tests
or prevention tools available.
For more information on current open clinical trials at TBRHSC, click
here and search for "Thunder Bay" under Find a Trial.
The future of clinical trials at TBRHSC
 The
Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute (TBRRI) will inspire a whole new approach to clinical trials
at the Health Sciences Centre. The TBRRI will bring research from the bench to the bedside in the area of molecular imaging - and clinical trials will
be the bridge.
For example, patients who required a positron emission tomography (PET) scan in the past have had to travel outside of Thunder Bay
to have their scan under one of the approved clinical trials in Ontario. Now they can access a PET scan through a clinical trial right
here in Thunder Bay.
Similarly, the introduction of a 3T MRI scanner ensures Thunder Bay will be one of only two Canadian sites that will offer the MRI-guided
High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Uterine Fibroid clinical trial. This study is expected to open to accrue patients by January
2010.
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