Whether a new therapy or test becomes part of standard treatment for breast cancer depends largely on clinical trial results.
For example, clinical trials showed the benefit of hormone therapies and trastuzumab (Herceptin) and these drugs are now part of standard breast cancer treatment.
Large randomized clinical trials are viewed as the best basis for making treatment guidelines.
Clinical trials take place across the country (and around the world) in many types of medical centres and hospitals.
Often, trials are funded by a single agency like the National Cancer Institute (a government agency) and are done at the same time in many sites across the country. These are called cooperative group clinical trials, and allow researchers to increase the number of people in a given study.
Dedicated physicians, researchers and other health professionals, as well as hospitals, medical research centres and funders, are all key to clinical trials. However, most important are the participants.
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