How Does Patient Clinical Trial Participation Move CLL Research Forward

How Does Patient Clinical Trial Participation Move CLL Research Forward?

How Does Patient Clinical Trial Participation Move CLL Research Forward? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) expert Dr. Michael Choi shares how clinical trial participation helps advance research and benefit the CLL community.

Dr. Michael Choi is a hematologist and medical oncologist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Choi. 

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Related Resources:

Why Should CLL Patients Consider Participating in a Clinical Trial?

A CLL Expert Addresses Common Clinical Trial Misconceptions

Hesitant to Participate in a CLL Clinical Trial_ What You Should Know

Transcript:

Laura Beth:

Dr. Choi, why is patient participation in CLL clinical trials so critical to advancing research?  

Dr. Choi:

Yeah, there’s still so much that we can do better for our patients. We’ve come a long way. I think we have a few – many treatments that we can really count on to work when we need it, but I think we still have a way that we can refine this more, which combination to use, which sequence to use, how long to do the certain treatments, and then, of course, what to do if those treatments stop working.  

So, I think, yeah, trials help us answer these questions in kind of formal manners so that the information can be used to help other patients in the future.   

Laura Beth:

I imagine that trial participation benefits the CLL community as a whole, by helping to move the research forward?   

Dr. Choi:

That’s so right, yeah. I’m always humbled and impressed by, I guess, the selflessness and the bravery of some of our patients, or of all of our patients and their families and their loved ones. Volunteering for a trial is certainly no trivial thing, not a trivial thing. And so, yeah, I think that that realization that by being a part of a trial, they’re not only potentially helping themselves and getting good care but also helping the future patients as well.