Hodgkins Disease Information
Future Research
Many people with Hodgkin's disease take part in clinical trials. Doctors conduct clinical trials for Hodgkin’s disease to learn about the effectiveness and side effects of new treatments. Trials are exploring new ways of giving radiation therapy and chemotherapy, new drugs and new drug combinations, and biological therapies to treat cancer. High-dose chemotherapy with bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation is also being evaluated. In some trials, all patients receive the new Hodgkin's disease treatment. In others, doctors compare different therapies by giving the new treatment to one group of patients and the standard treatment to another group; or they may compare one standard treatment with another. Research like this has led to significant advances in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease. Each achievement brings researchers closer to the eventual control of cancer.
People who take part in clinical trials have the first chance to benefit from treatments for Hodgkin's disease that have shown promise in earlier research. They also make an important contribution to medical science. Patients who are interested in entering a Hodgkin’s disease clinical trial should talk with their doctor.
