2005 Annual Report

Clinical Trials: Making Strides in Cancer Care

A glossary to better understand clinical trials

Conducting clinical trials helps our cancer team deliver the best care at Cincinnati Children's.
Preclinical research
Laboratory research in test tubes and animals. Before a new treatment is tried in people, it is carefully studied in the laboratory.
Translational research
The effort to transfer new knowledge from the laboratory into human trials and to transfer observations from the clinic back into questions that are attacked by basic scientists.
Clinical trial
A research study in people. Clinical trials are used to evaluate new ways to prevent, diagnose or treat disease. These trials try to answer a specific scientific question.
Phase I clinical trial
The first step in testing a new treatment in humans. Phase I trials evaluate the safety of new treatments. They are conducted at a few specialized centers, including Cincinnati Children's, and are offered only to a small number of patients who have not responded to standard treatments.
Phase II clinical trial
Phase II trials continue to study safety and begin to evaluate the effectiveness of the new treatment.
Phase III clinical trial
A larger trial that compares the new treatment to the current best practice to determine whether the new treatment improves cure rates, controls disease longer, reduces side effects or reduces late effects of treatment.