Clinical Trials |
Clinical Trials at WPAHS
Advancements in cancer treatment for the past 20 years have come from clinical trials and cooperative group research initiatives. The West Penn Allegheny Cancer Institute and its hospitals have recognized and remained committed to the utilization of clinical trial research. As members of the National Cancer Institute’s major clinical trials group, as well as several other national-based organizations, West Penn Allegheny expands its clinical trail interests to various cancer diagnoses and treatments.
ACOSOG (American College of Surgeons Oncology Group)
This is a clinical trials program that performs prospective, randomized trials evaluating surgical therapies in the care of patients with solid malignant tumors.
ACRIN (American College of Radiology Imaging Network)
An NCI funded cooperative group, ACRIN’s goal is to generate information to lengthen and improve the quality of cancer patients’ lives through clinical trials of diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapeutic technologies.
CALGB (Cancer and Leukemia Group B)
A national network of 29 university medical centers, over 185 community hospitals and almost 3,000 physicians collaborate in clinical research studies aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality from cancer, relating the biological characteristics of cancer to clinical outcomes and developing new strategies for the early detection and prevention of cancer. CALGB research is focused on seven major disease area: leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal malignancies, genitourinary malignancies, and melanoma.
CTSU (Cancer Trials Support Unit)
The CTSU is a project sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the support of a national network of physicians to participate in NCI-sponsored Phase III cancer treatment trials.
Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG)
The GOG is a non-profit organization supported by the National Cancer Institute for the purpose of promoting excellence in the quality and integrity of clinical and basic scientific research in the field of Gynecologic malignancies. There are about 45 individual clinical trials active at any one time patients with a variety of gynecologic malignancies, including cancers that arise from the ovaries, uterus, cervix, vagina, and vulva.
NSABP (National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project)
This is one of the most expansive and comprehensive breast cancer study groups in the United States, and represents an international research initiative coordinating the efforts of 6,000 medical professionals from around the world. The NSABP is headquartered on the Allegheny General campus where more than 50,000 patients have participated in clinical trials since NSABP’s inception in 1958. The trials have significantly enhanced the understanding and treatment of breast and bowel cancers. The NSABP’s accomplishments in clued redefining the once-standard treatment for breast cancer from radical mastectomy to the less-invasive, breast-sparing lumpectomy and by demonstrating first that the drug tamoxifen can reduce the incidence of breast cancer by almost 50 percent in women at high risk for the disease.
RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group)
A multi-institutional cooperative organization composed of 250 major research institutions in the United States and Canada. RTOG is a NCI-sponsored study research group with three decades of experience in running clinical trials. Currently, RTOG has more than 40 active studies involving radiation therapy either alone or in conjunction with surgery and/or chemotherapeutic drugs.
