The intent of a clinical trial is to investigate new and better ways to prevent, detect, diagnose or treat a disease.
Many trials study the effect and safety of a treatment.
Some look at the link between risk factors and disease. Other trials may study tissues or blood to learn about a disease, or use surveys to learn how a disease affects daily living.
Lastly, there are trials that study ways to improve the comfort and quality of life of people with a disease.

As a patient, you can drop out of a clinical trial at any time for any reason.

Treatment clinical trials are the means by which new ideas are shown to be valuable in treating patients. While researchers can develop potential new treatments, they cannot be known to be of value until they are tried in patients.

There are several links that help explain what clinical trials are and the pros and cons of participating.

We recommend the NIH site – www.clinicaltrials.gov

Also, the University of Iowa site – www.uihealthcare.com