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Your doctor may suggest that you consider taking part in a breast cancer treatment clinical trial, where patients help scientists find new, improved treatments for cancer. You may want to ask your doctor if you should consider joining such a research study. It's important to make this decision before you start treatment because you may not be eligible if you have had certain treatments already. Every successful treatment used today started as a clinical trial, and the patients who participated were the first to benefit from improved therapy.

Research studies for breast cancer treatments take place in many hospitals and cancer centers across the country. In these clinical trials, doctors use the newest treatments to care for cancer patients. Each carefully planned study is designed to answer certain questions and to find out specific information about how well a new drug or treatment method works.

All new treatments must go through three steps or "phases" of clinical trials:

Phase 1: Tests the best way to give a new treatment and how much can be given safely.

Phase 2: Finds out how well a treatment destroys cancer cells.

Phase 3: Compares two or more different treatments.

Each phase depends and builds on information from earlier phases. As time goes on, new and better ways to help cancer patients are being developed. It takes time, often several years, for clinical trials to prove the true value and effectiveness of a new treatment. All clinical-study patients receive the best care possible, and their reactions to the treatment are watched very closely. If the treatment doesn't seem to be helping, a doctor can take a patient out of a study. Also, a patient may choose to leave at any time. If a patient leaves a research study for any reason, standard care and treatment are still available.

If you are thinking about joining a breast cancer treatment clinical trial, your doctor can give you information that will help you decide if the choice is right for you. You should consider carefully what is involved and all possible benefits and risks of the treatment that is being offered.