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AUGUSTA

Clinical trials may offer answers

Cancer survivor describes benefits

By Mechele Cooper mcooper@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Debbie Violette decided traditional treatment had very little chance of treating her lung cancer.

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Deb Violette, Event Chair National Lung Cancer Partnership

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So Violette, 58, decided, with her doctor's support, to enroll in a clinical trial, a type of medical study in which patients are given experimental treatments not widely used or necessarily proven.

Such trials are conducted with an eye to the future, in hopes of finding safer or more effective methods to screen for, prevent, diagnose or treat a variety of diseases -- including cancer.

Violette, of Augusta, had stage III-A non-small cell lung cancer, a type of cancer that spread to the lymph nodes in the middle of her chest.

When she was diagnosed 13 years ago, doctors gave her a 10 percent chance of survival.

She enrolled in a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute trial. First she was treated with chemotherapy, then surgery, followed by radiation.

"The trial is still ongoing," Violette said. "Once you're entered into a clinical trial, you continue on until whatever has been determined.

"You have to stay the course. I'm here 13 years later, still being monitored by my physician in Boston. With the nature of this type of disease, and statistics being not good for survival, it's very important to be closely watched by a physician as you transition through the clinical trial."

She said not many people know about trials, in which participants typically trade a more active role in their own health care decisions and access to new research treatments in exchange for the uncertainty of a trial's outcome.

Some states require insurance companies to cover costs associated with clinical trials if such trials are approved by the National Cancer Institute.

"Here in Maine, if it's approved by NCI and doctors feel this is the best treatment option for the patient, the insurance companies have to pay," Violette said. "Traditional treatments may not be something that are the best fit for the patient. Clinical trials can give the patient better options and better treatment."

Violette is a state of Maine Bureau of Insurance employee who volunteers as the event chairperson for the National Lung Cancer Partnership.

Lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, can be caused by smoking but also by exposure to airborne gases such as radon.

"When I was diagnosed with lung cancer and realized radon was the second-leading cause (of lung cancer), I had my (well) water and air tested," she said. "To my surprise, it was way off the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's) chart for both air and water, so I put in a system.

"With the high levels of arsenic in our water in the New England area it's another health threat for cancer and you should get your well water tested."

EPA's maximum limit for radon is 4,000 picocuries per liter, even though levels less than that still pose a risk.

Regina Vidaver, executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership, said clinical trials are the only way to bring new treatments to the people who need them.

"Sadly, only 3 to 5 percent of people with cancer participate in clinical trials," Vidaver said. "For lung cancer, it's even worse: less than 1 percent of people with the disease make the courageous decision to join a clinical trial.

"Unfortunately, these low participation numbers make it extremely difficult to make the progress we so desperately need for the patients faced with the disease."

Violette said the people who do participate often say they felt they got more attention in a clinical trial than if they had standard treatment. And she said they feel a true sense of giving back, because they know they are helping to bring progress to the next people diagnosed.

"So, it's really, really important for all people with cancer, and particularly lung cancer, to ask if clinical trials are right for them," she said.

Violette said this is the third year she has organized a Free to Breathe Walk to benefit the National Lung Cancer Partnership, which was founded in 2006 by physicians and scientists to increase lung cancer awareness and research funding.

The event is Nov. 5, with registration at 8:45 a.m. at Augusta City Center. The 1.6 mile walk around the city will begin at 10 a.m. followed by a ceremony with speakers at 11 a.m. and a guided tour of Fort Western.

Mechele Cooper -- 621-5663

mcooper@centralmaine.com