A clinical trial is a research study that uses volunteers to test a new type of prevention or treatment. A clinical trial may test a medicine, a procedure, or a device to see if it works and is safe. There are clinical trials for all kinds of health conditions and diseases.

They are managed by different kinds of organizations. A clinical trial may be run by a government agency or a university. It may be run by a company or a nonprofit organization.

Being part of a clinical trial means you may benefit from a treatment that is not yet available to anyone else. The treatment may have shown some good results in previous research. The risks of being in a clinical trial vary depending on the trial. A treatment may not work, or result in harmful side effects. You will sign an informed consent to participate and may withdraw from the clinical trial at any time for personal or medical reasons.

Many prostate cancer clinical trials are often in progress. Most of these are small clinical trials with only a small number of people being treated. If a small clinical trial shows that a treatment may work well, a larger clinical trial is then done. The treatment may then be tested on hundreds or even thousands of men. Other types of clinical trials for prostate cancer look for new ways to help prevent it, better ways to find it early, and ways to tell if it will grow quickly or not.

To learn more about clinical trials for prostate cancer, talk with your doctor. You can also contact these organizations:

• National Cancer Institute nciinfo@nih.gov 1-800-422-6237
• National Institutes of Health clinicaltrials.gov