You can help with reproductive cancer research

Clinical trial underway in Alaska

Since writing about clinical trials several editions back, I’ve earned about $40 in gift cards. Now I search for more.

Participating in clinical studies can put a jingle in your pocket while contributing to medical science. Even my 5-year-old granddaughter realized this contribution -- when I gave her a microscope for her birthday, she said, “Now I can cure people!”

The webpage that details current clinical trial research in your area is http://www.clinicalconnection.com/search-clinical-trials.

I have to say, using this website was a little more complicated than that of http://www.researchmatch.org, but I did find numerous trials underway across the state, including this one.

Cancer in women’s reproductive systems

Whether diet and physical activity can modulate ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer is what’s being studied, and whether it leads to cancer progression-free survival.

Will changing to a healthier lifestyle significantly reduce cancer progression in those who have completed therapy? Also, will the new, healthy lifestyle will improve their general quality of life?

The trial includes two groups, the lifestyle intervention group, and the lifestyle group.

Lifestyle intervention group: Participants receive a dietary intervention designed to promote increased levels of plasma carotenoids, control weight, and ensure adequacy of micronutrient intake. Participants also undergo a physical activity regimen involving moderate aerobic activity, participate in face-to-face counseling, receive educational materials and counseling focused on how to read food labels to estimate grams of fat per serving and serving size, and undergo scheduled telephone counseling by a lifestyle intervention counselor.

Participants complete daily fat gram and step diaries at least three times per week.

Lifestyle group: Participants receive a study notebook containing general study-related information. They are not asked to record diet or physical activity but are provided a single sample diary in their study notebook. Phone contact is on a sliding scale similar to the intervention group, but at less-frequent intervals.

After completion of the study, participants are followed-up on every three months for two years, every six months for three years, and then annually thereafter.

The website for this trial lists more than a dozen participating clinics in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

To learn more about participating, go to https://www.clinicalconnection.com/clinical-trials-from-other-databases/study-location-selection/258882.