MDNews - Greater Boston

speCial Feature The Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care Clinical Trials Program Local Patients Benefit from early Access to new and Developing cancer treatments By eric slack IN may 2011, souThCoasT healTh sysTem estab- lished the Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care Clinical Trials Program. Ever since, it has been involved in efforts to help local patients participate in trials testing new and developing cancer treatments. Led by Program Director Elizabeth Blanchard, MD, the Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care Clinical Trials program is supported by a full-time staff member devoted solely to clinical trials research. The program has already served more than 40 patients."I started here three years ago. I was Photos © ryan riChardson elizabeth Blanchard, Md, medical oncologist and director of the Clinical trials Program for southcoast Centers for Cancer Care, has developed a program that provides local cancer patients access to the latest clinical trials without the added stress of having to travel long distances to participate. 12 | Greater Boston MD News ■ mdNews.Com looking to be part of a high-quality program with an active practice but also wanted to be involved with an academic component," Dr. Blanchard says. "It was a great opportunity to be part of building a program from the ground up. It has taken a lot of work and education for patients, staff and physicians, but we have successfully built a program that is focused on our patient population and the types of cancers found in our area." Having a clinical trials program is important to the Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care because it gives the organization an opportunity to contribute to the advancement of cancer care. In addition, when oncology programs participate in clinical trials, they are held to higher standards. For patients, this presents an opportunity to participate in a clinical trial that may be defining the new best treatment for a particular cancer, while providing them with additional confidence in the quality of care they are receiving. "We now have several types of trials open," Dr. Blanchard says. "These are important trials that allow our patients to become part of the newest developments in cancer care." Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care offers its own clinical trials testing new medications and supportive measures for patients with cancer. These studies, designed by Southcoast physicians, are testing better ways to deliver cancer care and support cancer patients. "One of our own trials was a pain trial that has already closed," says Dr. Blanchard. "We used an online questionnaire to gather more information about cancer pain. We also have an ongoing study that is gauging cancer pain in our patient population. It has already been partially published in abstract form." Another trial is gauging the level of frailty in elderly patients and whether they can handle chemotherapy. It is based on the Timed Up and Go test, which is normally used to assess a person's mobility and his or her static and dynamic balance. "The test requires a stopwatch, and it times a patient's movement from one end of the room to the other," Dr. Blanchard explains. "In geriatric literature, seven or more seconds has worse outcomes. We are using that test to see if it is the same in regard to chemotherapy."

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