ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE STARTING A NEW TREATMENT

As cancer treatments continue to evolve, patients face the challenge of trying to decide if they’ll try a new treatment — techniques that might have been used on only a few other people.

Patients need to consult with their doctors and be their own advocates, said Christine Mills, executive director of the American Cancer Society in Columbus.

“You want to make sure it’s the right treatment for you,” she said. “Only you can make that decision.”

She said the society’s cancer.org website offers up a number of questions patients should ask before jumping into a new treatment.

Among them:

• How has the treatment been evaluated? Has it been researched in the lab? On animals? Has the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved testing fin humans? • How many studies have been done to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment? Do they agree?

• Who performed the studies? Are they reputable treatment centers? • Has the study been published or peer reviewed to make sure scientific procedures were followed? • For studies done in humans, how many people were involved and how long were they observed? Was there a different outcome between people using the new treatment and people using the standard treatment?

• Is the treatment approved by the FDA? If not, is it available through expanded access (for cancers it was not approved for) or compassionate use (for seriously ill patients with no other options)? • What are possible side effects of the treatment? Is it safe to use with other ongoing treatments? • Does the new treatment make a real difference to people? Is the potential worth the side effects? • How much will the treatment cost? Will it be covered by insurance?